Kunizte

Kunzite is the best-known variety of the mineral spodumene. It’s named after famed gemologist George Frederick Kunz, who was the first to identify it as a unique variety of spodumene. Kunzite gets its delicate color from trace amounts of manganese.

Kunzite has two perfect cleavage directions. Due to its strong pleochroism, kunzite has to be oriented particularly and cut carefully in order to achieve the deepest tone and saturation, as the stone’s best color is seen when looking down the length of the crystal. It is usually cut with a deep pavilion to emphasize its pink to violet color. In spite of its rarity and beauty, kunzite can be quite affordable because it’s relatively unknown. Color is kunzite’s most important value factor. The more vivid the color, the higher the value.

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