Must admit here that I never knew what color the original 'Cairngorm stones' may have been; the name is associated with all varieties of rock crystal also referring to shapes and styles rather then a definite origin (what else is new!). Admitting the type is defined by origin, then there's still trouble as there is colorless, smoky, purple and yellow facetable quartz from the Cairngorm massif.
Short of full-fledged origin ID for the stuff, the local rockhounds still deal with such all-Scottish rocks (like THIS).
Joined: Sun Oct 16, 2005 12:22 pm Posts: 21602 Location: San Francisco
I go to Scotland frequently and on my first trips (decades ago) I went in search of the illusive smoky quartz in the Cairngorms. I was promptly told (at that time) I was 50 years too late.
But it was a scenic day trip, so I wasn't disappointed.
Much of the traditional Scottish jewelery available in the Highlands today contains what is referred to as Cairngorm that is quite obviously citrine from Brazil.
Also, of note...we carry several pieces of Victorian Scottish Jewelry at the shop. Although the jewels were supposed to be made out of minerals (agates and rocks and microcrystalline quartz varieties) native to the Highlands I noticed several agates that looked a lot more like those one would expect to find around Idar-Oberstein in the 1800's.
Long story short, I found that much of the cutting for the Scottish pieces was done in Idar Oberstein and many of the gem components were actually purchased in Germany and had no Scottish roots whatsoever.
In response to the various questions posed here, readers of this thread might be interested to know that I have just published what I hope will be seen as the definitive account of the minerals of the Cairngorms. The book contains much original historical research and numerous previously unpublished photos. It should be of interest to mineralogists, gemmologists, collectors of antique jewellery and auction houses, as a reference work as well as a "good read". You can find out more and see a selection of sample pages here - www.britishmineralogy.com
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