Blue and light-blue zircon

Blue (light-blue) zircon from Cambodia

Despite the rich colours and vast geography of deposits of precious zircon, the zircon blue and blue shades are valued above all. Blue zircons have a name - starlit. It is important to note that the blue zircons come in the jewelry market from a single field, which is located in the northeast of Cambodia in Ratanakiri province. Natural zircon is a rare and unique gems. On the world market of gems they are not widespread, and find beautiful large instance rich blue color not just.

Jewelry zircon combines amazing optical effects:

• Variance is a game of colored flashes in the gem. Variance of zircon is very high, higher than diamond, this makes it very attractive for jewelry. Natural zircons show a tremendous fire, and shift flares, thanks to clear, colorless zircons are sometimes used as substitutes for diamonds.
• Birefringence - effect of a split of edges in zircons it is very strong and noticeable to the naked eye. The photos birefringence can cause a feeling raspolozhennogo image of the gem. The effect of the split faces helps to accurately determine the zircon from a number of other colored gems.

Value of blue zircon

Experts believe the blue zircon one of the most underrated gems on the market and the forecast increase in cost. Blue zircon has yet to reach maximum market potential, we believe that this aside for a few years. Already we are seeing an increase in demand for this gem not only among collectors, but also famous jewelry houses that produce limited edition products and collection with this beautiful gemstone.

The cost of blue zircon is affected by: the mass of the gem, clarity, cut and most important, the degree of color saturation. The most expensive specimens are of a deep rich blue color, lighter gems are cheaper. Large rich blue, almost blue zircons in high-quality cut can cost $280-450 per carat. The lighter color is in the range $150-280 per carat.

Mining blue zircon

Licenses to develop fields in Cambodia required. Production of zircon being primitive methods, the technique is almost never used and is only used for manual labor. The mining process of zircon as follows - in the narrow mine down the miners, passing on the surface of the bucket with a red rock. Shaft to a depth of 10-12 meters is not strengthened and the risk of a collapse is very high. Raised the breed can be seen carefully by hand without sieves and washing, in the hope of finding a crystal of zircon. Crystals more than 1-2 cm are rare.

The quarried raw material of zircon is brown, less orange color. Blue color it acquires after annealing in special furnaces. Also, there are zircons, the color of which after heating is changed to colorless, yellowor orange. The cut of crystals also takes place on the spot, but its quality leaves much to be desired. Faceted gems are often strongly "drawn" pavilion, which increases the weight, but it looks not proportional and not enough jewelry.

Elevation blue (blue) zircon

All zircons are heat treated. Heat treatment of zircons is generally accepted Gemological community and does not affect their value, similar to the case with tanzanite. Heating occurs in makeshift ovens-barrels, where is placed the refractory container with the raw material. The container protects the crystal from direct flame, preventing cracking of raw materials. The process takes only a few hours. Sometimes to correct the color of the crystals is heated in two stages. Color change as a result of the annealing is stable.

Common misconceptions about zircons

Rare natural zircon gem because of the similarity in name is often confused with cubic Zirconia (cubic Zirconia), a cheap synthetic gem that is used as imitation diamond. This is not the only name confusion that arises from buyers. Jewelry zircon still confused with similar-sounding Zirconia - metal in the periodic table it is denoted as Zr.

To summarize:

• Zircon (ZrSiO4) - precious natural gem.
• Cubic Zirconia (Cubic Zirconia) - cubic Zirconia, a synthetic diamond simulant.
• Zirconium (Zr) is a metal from the periodic table.

Buy blue zircon from Cambodia

In our catalog you will always find great examples of Cambodian blue zircons, will be able to compare prices and to understand the approximate budget for future purchases.

In addition to the gems available, our team is happy to offer a custom order. Based on your requirements and budget we will find you the best example of a blue zircon.