Diopside is a green mineral deriving its name
from the Greek DIS - "twice", and
OPSE - "face", "appearance" in reference
to two ways of orienting the vertical prism;
diopside was first described about 1800.
Diopside is transparent to translucent and
commonly light to dark green, but may be blue,
brown, colorless, white, grey. Gemstone
quality diopside is found in two forms: the
black star diopside and the chrome diopside
(which includes chromium, giving it a rich
green color). Chrome diopside literally glows
with green.
Gems with an attractive pure green color are
generally rare and pricey. Of course, emerald
is the most valuable and popular green gem
though it is more famous for its color than
its clarity. Tsavorite garnet came on to the
market in the 1970s and became the second
choice in fine green gems. High quality
tsavorite not only has an excellent saturated
green color, but it also has superior
brilliance, clarity and hardness, and prices
are as high or higher than those of emerald.
The next choice is a variety of green
tourmaline known as chrome tourmaline.
Like tsavorite garnet, chrome tourmaline is
found in East Africa and is a pure forest
green with a slightly yellowish to bluish
secondary hue. Unfortunately, chrome
tourmaline turned out to be as scarce and
expensive as tsavorite garnet. Another green
gem, peridot tends to be yellowish or olive
green, and never has the deeper tones of
tsavorite or chrome tourmaline.
All changed in 1988 when a major new find of
chromium-bearing diopside was discovered and
this rich green gem came to the market at an
amazingly low, affordable price - under $100
a carat in smaller sizes. In fact, it's the
most affordable gemstone in a rich green.
The home to this world's primary source of
chrome diopside is in a remote location in
Eastern Siberia in Yakutia region which is
better known for its impressive diamond
deposits.
In Siberia, there isn't much green to admire
for most of the year. Perhaps in compensation,
nature placed rich deposits of a vivid green
chrome diopside in this snowy region to
delight the eye during the long and hard
winter months. Except Russia, diopside
occurrences are reported in Canada, South
Africa, Brazil, and a wide variety of other
locations including USA.
Chrome diopside is mostly available in small
sizes: in the rare large sizes, the color
actually becomes so rich that it's too dark.
But for bright green accent stones, chrome
diopside is ideal. However, it's relatively
soft, so diopside is a better choice for
earrings or a pendant than for a ring which
will receive a lot of wear; and it looks
stunning when set in gold.
