Malachite is very famous mainly because of its vivid deep green colour and also of its banded appearance. His name derived from the Greek words 'molochitis lithos', meaning mallow-green stone, due to its resemblance with the mallow plant.
Chemically it belongs to the copper family. The crystal system of malachite is monoclinic. On its crystal form it shows fibrous structure which may be visible sometimes on a fashioned stone too. If you look at your gemstone the fibres will be perpendicular to the colour banding. Curved concentric bands which consist of dark green and light green colour are the main characteristic of this gem. Malachite is more often fashioned as cabochons or beads, due to its low hardness, 4 at Mohs scale. Indeed it is a very fragile stone, so avoid wearing your malachite pieces when you are doing household or any kind of job that can cause abrasion on the gemstone. On the photo below an oval cabochon cut malachite is depicted. You can have a closer look, so that you can check the curved bands of colour.
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| Oval cabochon cut malachite |
Jewellery with cabochon cut malachite is very popular, especially during summer and autumn. Many people like it because it is an opaque stone and it shows its vivid banded green colour even better. A pair of earrings with pear cabochon cut malachite in a gold plated sterling silver metal by Salome is depicted on the photo below. This pair is named 'le rêve', meaning the dream in English. I like matching this pair of earrings with jeans and shirts and also with total black or total brown outfits. Moreover, they fit perfectly a leopard print dress or leopard print skirt with a plain shirt.
If you love vivid green colour and you like the effect of concentric colour bands, then you are a malachite lover! This gemstone is so unique, that you cannot confuse it with any other gem 😉!
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| Pair of earrings in gold plated silver metal with pear cabochon cut malachite by Salome |
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