The mistreated beautiful Gem, birthstone for December babies who prefer the transparency of gems, rather than the classic Turquoise, which is also known as a December birthstone. Due to the name similarity, it is usually confused with the man-made Cubic Zirconia. Even jewelers sometimes think of Zircon as the natural Cubic Zirconia, a Diamond substitute.
The truth is that they are completely different. Cubic Zirconia is a man-made stone that is mass produced in factories. Zircon is a natural beautiful gem.
BLUE ZIRCON IS NOT A NEW GEM
Blue Zircon has been around for hundreds of years. The name is most likely derived from the Persian language, meaning "Golden Color". The natural original color for Zircon before heating. Named and marketed by George Kunz as "Starlite", a tribute of its high refractive nature and strong dispersion.
Because of its natural beauty compared to the Diamond, Blue Zircon was used frequently in Victorian Jewelry, especially in 1805.
Although most of Blue Zircon that we see presently is created by heating Brown-Gray or Red-Brown Zircons, Natural Blue Zircon does not exist and it is always distinguished by its pure blue appearance.
BLUE ZIRCON IS NATURALLY RADIOACTIVE
Zircon naturally contains radioactive elements, Curanium and Thorium, not to the point that it may affect human health. However, the Green Zircon is known to be an indication of the radioactive element, in fact a heated Brown Zircon turned to blue with greenish blue overtones, most likely will turn more green if exposed to strong sunlight for long periods of time. Pure Blue Zircons are most likely to remain blue.
It is also important to mention that Green Zircon is enough to fool the unaided eye. Fortunately, Zircon is doubly refractive and diamond is singly refractive. So it is easy to identify both gems by standard gemological tests.
Mainly mined in Thailand and Cambodia. Although, Zircon in general is mined in variety of locations, however, the main places where White and Blue Zircons are mined, are Thailand and Cambodia. These two countries produce the best and largest crystals.
Madagascar, Nigeria, Tanzania and Mozambique in Africa usually produce the brown and orange variety.
BLUE ZIRCONS ARE COLLECTOR GEMS
Collector Gems in general are defined as relatively unknown, gems that maybe brittle, soft to wear sometimes but because of their rarity, they are well appreciated by amateurs and collectors. Blue Zircon is the best example, although it has been used for a very long time in Antiquities. Especially in Platinum and White Gold jewelers think of Blue Zircon as "The Hope Diamond". For many Blue Zircon lovers, it is the color of hope.
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