andesine 4.66cts - 8x6mm

Buy natural Andesine from gempiece.com, the only source for genuine natural gemstones. Over two decades of expert handling gemstones and 100% customer satisfaction.  Andesine also termed as labradorite in trade was named after the first known source Andes mountains in South America. Andesine is a member of the plagioclase feldspar family. The content was found in igneous rocks. Andesine contains Sodium, Calcium, Aluminium, Silicon, Oxygen which gives a variety of colors like orange, red, champagne, orangey red. Some andesines do have color changing property. The refractive index for the andesine gemstone is 1.543 to 1.564 with Moh’s scale hardness of 6 to 6.5. The specific gravity for andesine is 2.65 to 2.69, andesine labradorite belongs to the crystal group is triclinic in nature. Andesine is also widely available in Congo, Tibet, China, and south India. Labradorite belongs to the feldspar family and an intermediate member of the plagioclase series. Labradorite is said to contain Anorthite (An) and has a fine play of color, which in trade is defined as labradorescence. The effect is due to the light refraction. Andesine was defined to be the red variety if the Labrador group.

Plagioclase is an important content of the earth’s crest and is said that to be a series of the tectocilicate mineral of the feldspar group. The composition of plagioclase is a percentage of Anorthite(An) or Albite(Ab) which basically determines the refractive index of the material.  If the percentage if An:Ab is 50-70:50-30 then the variety is labradorite. If the percentage if An:Ab is 30-50:70-50 then the variety is andesine. There are also other varieties of the same family called bytownite, oligoclase. Basically plagioclase means oblique fracture which means cleavage angles. In greek terms straight fracture refers to Orthoclase which is also a member of the tectosilicate mineral and this variety is referred to as moonstone.

Andesine labradorite is an excitement in the gemstones industry due to the many varieties and the mystery formulation of the nature’s crest.