What are your favorite semiprecious stones?

I tend to favor the opaque ones with swirly stuff, agates and malachites and jaspers, stuff like that. I go to dead shows and buy the 1cm diameter stones in strings.

“Dead shows”?

Aaaack! BEAD shows!

Zircon but not for the reason you think.

Amethyst. I find that amethyst is a cheap way to pretend that one is a pirate.

My husband has given me amethyst, carnelian, turquoise and most recently garnet earrings. Amethyst and garnet are probably my favorites.
I also have hematite, jasper,moonstone, topaz, labradorite, malachite and a few others that I’ve acquired through trades with jewelers at art shows.
Then there are specimens that I get while rock hunting.I have some nice chalcedony that I’ve tumbled but have no plans to make any jewelry.I like cut stones that are ser.

I like aquamarine as it’s my birthstone. I love turquoise and have a small collection of rings with that gemstone.
@canidmajor I seriously thought you meant shows after people died of their estate and you bought up their jewelry.

Ha! I’m not quite the ghoul you’d think!

Moonstone, Amber, Emerald, Ruby

Opals, chalcedony and moonstones.

I don’t really wear jewelry. But I do like to have a smooth stone in my pocket to roll around between my fingers.

Not entirely related, but I’m also drawn to milk glass.

Petrified wood and turquoise.

I also did stone polishing with a 6 drum polisher for cabochons.

turquoise and mother of pearl

A well cut & nicely polished amethyst makes me smile. It is my birthstone which may well be the reason I feel so attached!!!

I especially like moonstones, amethyst, and malachite. I have a few pieces of jewelry with moonstones and amethyst, but the malachite is different. I just like the look of it. I carry a small piece in my pocket and keep some larger ones on my desk. I like to imagine it has magical properties even though I don’t believe in any magic.

When I was in Springdale, Utah, visiting a rock shop near Zion National Park, I saw an assortment of spoiled carvings at cheap prices, pieces of malachite and other semiprecious stones that had somehow been ruined while being shaped. They looked very sad to me, all those beautiful stones being forced into some design that failed and ended up making them worthless. They would have been lovely just polished, instead of being made into little broken dogs and bears and crosses.

@canidmajor, I thought the same thing as @chyna. Although I’d never heard the term, it sounded creepily but plausibly Victorian to me.

Opals, especially with good fire.
Blue topaz.

I never understood the fascination with diamonds.
To me they are meh.

Thulite, national stone of Norway
Lapis lazuli
Minnesota pipestone

Garnet

Opals have always been my favorites, They have such fire! No, I don’t wear any, but I have bought some for my wife. She likes them too.

Lapis is really nice. I got my wife a silver and lapis set with earrings, ring, and necklace once that I love.

Moonstone, sodalite, apatite, opals, turquoise, malachite.

There’s a lot of counterfeit stuff out there now, especially turquoise. So often I see turquoise listed as the gem in jewelry but when you look at it, it’s pale and fake looking. There are also a lot of laboratory-created gems that are so bright and colorful that they look fake.

My birthstone is aquamarine and it’s very pretty, but I don’t particularly love it.

I love the look of Zultanite.
It changes color depending upon the ambient light: candlelight, fluorescent, or incandescent.
It is so interesting to watch the instant transformation. Magic!

@LuckyGuy What happens if you heat it?

@lucillelucillelucille I never tried heating. I just admired the color changing ability from a respectful distance.

@LuckyGuy – I think some stones can be heat treated to intensify color. Please experiment with this and get back to me. XD

Amethyst can be heated and it becomes Citrine.

@Tropical_Willie thanks for posting that link

Also you can irradiate x-rays and gamma ray quartz with Iron particles to make Amethyst