Where does Peridot come from?
The oldest mines can be found on an island in the Red Sea. This is where ancient Egyptians got their supply of peridot for their elaborate jewelry. Of course, this was thousands of years ago and the mines have long since been empty. The island was plagued by poisonous snakes so an Egyptian ruler had them killed off, deserted his miners on the island and trespassers were killed on sight. This was how valuable these stones were to the Egyptians. In fact, they called it the “gem of the sun.” Cleopatra wore some peridot, though she probably thought all of her jewels were emeralds. In the 1990s, a huge deposit of quality peridot was found in Pakistan. These stones are known as Kashmir peridot which designates them as fine quality stones with beautiful green hues. As you admire your lush Kashmir green peridot and diamond ring , imagine the journey it took just to get to your finger. Over 13,000 feet up in very harsh conditions lay the Kashmir mines. Just imagine the trek to get the stones do
Peridot comes from several parts from all around the world. Pakistan, Arizona, USA, China, Burma, and I also believe from North Korea. I’ll check on that and will post later. To look for the quality of Peridot, basic rule is, the stone should be more green than yellow. Chinese Peridot has more yellow than green vs Arizona which is more green than yellow. Recently it was discovered that the Planet Mars has vast deposits of Peridot.
