the.com/kunzite
a pink crystal so shy its color fades in sunlight like a vampire's secret
means Kunzite is the pink-to-violet, lilac-tinted gem variety of the mineral spodumene, prized by collectors and known for its color fading with prolonged sun exposure.
from Named for George Frederick Kunz, the celebrated American gemologist and longtime buyer for Tiffany & Co., who described the stone in the early 20th century after it turned up in the pegmatite mines of California. The '-ite' suffix is the standard mineralogical tag, from the Greek 'lithos' by way of '-ites' meaning 'of the nature of stone' — so the name simply means, in effect, 'Kunz's stone.'
- named after
- gem expert George Kunz, Tiffany's chief buyer
- fades fast
- prolonged light bleaches its pink away forever
- lithium inside
- same metal that powers your phone battery
- pleochroic
- shows different colors from different viewing angles
- discovered
- first found in California, 1902
kunzite from afghanistan — high-quality gem specimens from nurestan and laghman provinces, major modern source since 1970s
kunzite from brazil — pale lavender crystals from minas gerais state, significant deposit discovered in 1980s