In the 1920s, heat treatment became customary practice to enhance the color of zircon gemstones for jewelry. Zircon with a cloudy or smoky appearance was popular in mourning jewelry. Zircon contains the radioactive element uranium, which changes the gemstone’s chemical structure and color over time, giving us important clues about the formation of our planet.ĭuring the Middle Ages, people believed that zircon gemstones could induce sound sleep, ward off evil, and bring prosperity and wisdom.īlue zircon was popular during Victorian times and frequently adorned English estate jewelry from the 1880s. Found in the Earth’s crust, it’s common in most sand and sedimentary deposits, as well as metamorphic rocks and crystallized magma.ĭue to its chemical makeup, zircon has survived ages of geologic events like erosion and pressure shifts-recording these changes like a time capsule. Zircon is the oldest mineral on Earth, dating back more than 4.4 billion years.
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