There are not a lot of gemstones that come in blue. The ones that do are spectacular. But none shows its blue color quite like blue chalcedony shows the blue color of the sky.
Chalcedony in general
Blue chalcedony is but one member of a larger family of stones called chalcedony. Whatever the color, chalcedony is silicon dioxide, SiO2, in a fine-grained, fibrous form of quartz. When a chalcedony is black, it’s called onyx. When chalcedony is red, it’s called carnelian. When green, it’s chrysoprase. When multicolored, it’s an agate. When brownish with veining, it’s called jasper with a descriptive noun-adjective attached in front, like ocean jasper or rain forest jasper. When chalcedony is blue, it’s called blue chalcedony.
Chalcedony in blue
The reason blue chalcedony is blue is not so much from metallic impurities in the rock but from the scattering of light through the fibrous crystal bundles. A better description of that blue-producing phenomenon would require some physics, which we won’t go into here.
Blue chalcedony ought to have a name of its own, like other chalcedony of other colors do. And the blue ought to be more descriptive of the color than just “blue” might suggest. None of that being so, suffice it to say that the blue color can be called whatever blue it looks like to you. I call it a periwinkle blue or a Wedgewood blue, after the blue color in the fine English china of the same name. But most often, I call it sky blue, after the color the sky really is in the Rocky Mountains and at other elevations too high to be compromised by too much air. Sky blue is relevant nomenclature, because, after all, the blue of the sky is also caused by the scattering of light in the blue wavelength around the atmosphere.
And finally, some make no reference at all to the stunning blue color, naming blue chalcedony eldoradoite for reasons entirely unknown.
Lorraine writes on a variety of gemstone and jewelry topics. Click HERE for a list of related articles. Click on subscribe at the top of the page for notices to upcoming articles.
Comments
Sounds beautiful! I had no idea that onyx and the others were members of the chalcedony family. Fascinating article!
It should have it's own name too! Great article!
Thanks for the info.
Very interesting read. Thanks!
This is my favorite shade of blue I call it periwinkle too. I have heard of those other stones but didn't know that all of them were from the same family. I always assumed that it was like a jade or something. Great info!
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