Alexandrite
COLOR RANGE
In incandescent light: orangy brownish red
to purplish red, in fluorescent: (daylight) light
yellowish, brownish, grayish, bluish green
HARDNESS & TOUGHNESS
Hardness: 8.5 Toughness: Excellent
MAJOR SOURCES
Brazil, East Africa, Russia, Sri lanka
Alexandrite is a rare chrysoberyl variety with chameleon-like qualities. Its color is a lovely green in day- light or fluorescent light but changes to brownish or Purplish red in the incandescent light from a lamp or candle flame. Alexandrite’s dramatic color change is sometimes described as “Emerald by day, Ruby by night”. Other gems also change color in response to a change in light source, but these gem’s transformation is so striking that the phenomenon itself is often called “the alexandrite effect”.
