Moonstone is a variety of feldspar and the shimmer, which is called schiller or adularescence, is caused by the intergrowth of two different types of feldspar, with different refractive indexes. Moonstone shares the distinction with alexandrite and pearl as the birthstone for June.
Moonstone comes in a variety of colors and almost seems magical with a ghostly shimmering glow floating in a crystalline material. The body color can range from colorless to gray, brown, yellow, green, or pink. The clarity ranges from transparent to translucent. The best moonstone has a blue sheen, perfect clarity, and a colorless body color.
Another related feldspar variety is known as rainbow moonstone. In this variety of labradorite feldspar, the sheen is a variety of rainbow hues. Fine moonstone is quite rare and becoming rarer. It is mined in Sri Lanka and Southern India. The rainbow variety can also be found in Madagascar. Although moonstones are sometimes faceted, moonstones are usually cut in a smooth-domed cabochon shape to maximize the effect. Sometimes they are carved to show a man-in-the-moon face. Below is a list of some of our moonstone gemstones.To see our finished Moonstone Jewelry, click here.