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The many colors of jasper

The word Jasper means, “spotted or mottled stone”, comes from the Greek word iaspisand latin iaspidem. Jasper is one of the oldest known gemstones and was very popular in ancient times. He has been written about in Greek, Hebrew, Assyrian, Persian, and Latin engravings, as well as in the Bible. But in those ancient times, what was known as jasper was a totally different stone from what we call jasper today; it referred only to the transparent green varieties. Jasper is one of the birthstones for the Virgo sun sign and the mystical birthstone for the month of October. There are many varieties and names for jasper; they refer to their patrons or their places of origin.

Jasper is like an opaque, fine-grained variety of Chalcedony. Some scientists place it in a group by itself within the quartz group due to its grainy structure. It contains eighty percent chalcedony and twenty percent opal, quartz, and rare minerals. Solid colored jasper is very rare; Most jasper is opaque and can display many different color patterns. The foreign minerals it contains form its colors, streaks, spots, and appearance. There are more than fifty varieties of jasper, but the most prized jasper gemstones have a combination of red and green patterns. Jasper colors include: red, brown, pink, yellow, green, gray/white, and shades of blue and purple. It has a dull sheen, but develops a nice shine when polished. Jasper is at a 6.5 – 7 on the Mohs scale.

Jasper is typically found in the seams and crevices of volcanic rocks, often together with chalcedony and agate. Jasper veins occasionally occur in igneous rocks, for example in granite. All jaspers are formed in a minimum of two steps. The tiny particles first settle in layers, then the layers are bound together with a liquid silica solution. Jasper can go through many more steps in his training. Many jaspers are named after the region where they are found or their color patterns. Some names include: Picture, Red, Kambaba, Landscape, Biggs, Frog Skin, Zebra, Mookite, Brecciated Mookiate, Brecciated, Picasso, Artistic, Exotica, Succor, Wilow Creek, Dalmation, Cobra, Ghost’s Eye, Dallasite, Dendrite, Stone Canyon , Plume, Bamboo, Lizard Skin, Polychrome, Desert, Ocean, Orbical, Poppy, Montana Bark, Snake Skin, Owyhee, Fancy, Spiderman, Starburst, Leopard Skin, Rainforest or Rhyolite, Morgan Hill Poppy, Burro Jasper.

Jasper is used in the elaboration of all kinds of decorative objects as well as in jewelry. It is a beautiful gemstone that many people like to collect. This is due to the different color patterns it can possess.