Amblygonite are incredibly scarce, beautiful mint aqua gemstones from Brazil’s famed Morro Redondo Mine, situated near Coronel Murta in the Brazilian state of Minas Gerais (General Mines), an esteemed locale renowned internationally for its fine gemstones. Once restricted to specialist collections and museums, Amblygonite’s relatively new chance discoveries in Brazil have brought this beautiful, exotic gemstone out of glass cabinets and into jewelry.
Beauty
Usually white, cream or pastel yellow, Amblygonite’s most prized colors are unusual and highly desirable mint aqua; light to medium saturated (strength of color) and toned (lightness or darkness of color), bluish-greens to greenish-blues, sometimes with hints of lime. These unlikely, but beautiful colors accentuate both its rarity and appeal, possessing visual similarities to Apatite, Beryl, Hiddenite, and Paraíba Tourmaline.
Dependent on expert cutting, Amblygonite is always very challenging for the lapidary due to four different directions of cleavage (breakage along definite plane surfaces) at different angles from one another, all with varying qualities. Despite these challenges, Amblygonite is optimally faceted by experienced lapidaries, who carefully orientate each crystal to maximize its colorful brilliance and excellent scintillation (play of light), maintaining an eye-clean clarity (the highest quality clarity grade for colored gemstones, as determined by the world’s leading gemological laboratories), high-polish/luster, and attractive overall appearance (outline, profile and proportions).
Amblygonite (pronounced: Am-Blig-O-Night) is a fluorophosphate mineral, composed of aluminum, fluoride, hydroxide, lithium, phosphate, and sodium. The mineral was first discovered in 1817 at Saxony, Germany by German mineralogist and professor, August Breithaupt (1791 – 1873). It was named by him from the Greek ‘amblus’, meaning blunt, and ‘gouia’, meaning angle, because of the obtuse (slightly differs from 90°) angle between its cleavages. This distinguishes it from similar appearing gems such as Apatite, Beryl, Hiddenite, Quartz, Scapolite, and some Feldspars. Also found at Montebras, Creuse, France, and at Hebron in Maine, USA, because of slight differences in optical character and chemical composition the names, ‘Montebrasite’ and ‘Hebronite’ have been applied to the minerals from these deposits. Amblygonite is generally white, cream or pastel yellow, but can also be beige, blue, colorless, green, grey, pink, or purple. The mineral occurs in pegmatites (coarsely crystalline igneous rock) with Apatite, Spodumene, Tourmaline, and other lithium-bearing minerals. Mineral Amblygonite contains about 10 percent lithium and is used commercially.
Rarity
Extremely rare, transparent Amblygonite has been faceted and used as a gemstone. The main, albeit sporadic, sources for gem-quality Amblygonite are Brazil and the USA. Australia, Burma (Myanmar), France, Germany, Namibia, Norway, and Spain have also produced gemmy Amblygonite, but not in commercial quantities.
A gemstone and specimen mine, Morro Redondo works a pegmatite found in 1991, measuring 400 meters in length with an average thickness of 30 meters. Our gems are historic production, there has been no significant Amblygonite output from this mine for several years. Apart from its geological scarcity and coveted hues, Amblygonite is also difficult to facet further accentuating its rarity.
Durability & Care
Amblygonite (Mohs’ Hardness: 6) is an excellent collectors’ gemstone. Always store Amblygonite carefully to avoid scuffs and scratches. Clean with gentle soap and lukewarm water, scrubbing behind the gem with a very soft toothbrush as necessary. After cleaning, pat dry with a soft towel or chamois cloth.