We had hoped to fill this page with more samples but fine hiddenite turned out to be elusive. Being a spodumene, also not a particularly well-known brand-name, except perhaps for kunzite, the pink version, it does not get as much public attention as it deserves. However, this may change anytime soon.

This 8.93 carat gem was my first encounter with hiddenite and I was hooked right away, even though one must look 'behind' the images to catch its unique charm. Dense green, sea-foam or yellow-green specimens are extremly rare. 

Emerald green hiddenites have been found in North Carolina but I have only seen them on pictures.

All our non-irradiated gems have a unique fluid lightness in their crystal. Also, they seem liquid and weightless but actually come with a 7 on the Mohs’ scale, which is not bad, and a ‘normal’ density similar to that of tourmaline.

Though durable enough for jewelry, they need careful setting because of their cleavage (the ability, or rather tendency, to brake along one flat axis). Once safely set, hiddenite will tolerate any normal life-style.

In pendants or earrings, the chances of damaging even the softest gem are usually overestimated. If hardness in pendants were a factor we would never see any pearls, coral or amber in jewelry, but public perception is a strange animal. I guess we have to thank the decades of DeBeers' brainwashing that only a diamond 'lasts forever'. Nonsense. I regularly have to convince customers that garnet or tourmaline is hard enough for jewelry, unless street fighting or a SEAL boot-camp is in the planning. 

Hiddenite is on top of our to-buy-list, together with the pink sister kunzite as long as we can make sure it wasn’t irradiated.