Another ring

[Kwant]

Unusual stone unusual setting. A little scapolite cab in sterling:


Scapolite ring by kwant, on Flickr

first image was in the sunshine .........then it went in and wont come back out again :0( roll on my holiday down south in two weeks.

[Dennis]

Very perky, but isn't that a moonstone?

[theresa]

or Labradorite/Spectrolite?

[Kwant]

Well I did wonder, but it was sold to me as scapolite, I have another scapolite which is deep red with a cats eye, which certainly looks more like I thought it should.

On the other hand if you do a search on blue scapolite on google images many stones like my one do show up, some almost identical and others more opaque.

[Kwant]

Having done some more reading, it would seem that it is not a moonstone as they (as with labrodorites) are invariably lamellar in structure leading to the effect we see in them called adularescence and labradorescence.

Scapolite has a fibrous structure/needle like inclusions leading to the effect known as chatoyance, which gives the cats eye effect, in the stone I have they can be seen quite clearly under a loupe, presenting as darker spots to the naked eye. There is a variety of scapolite called "pink moonstone" due to the fact it displays colour similar to a moonstone, further confusing the issue :0)

I note in the moonstones and labradorites I have, that the colour is in effect static in as much as it stays in the same place when viewed, in my stone the colour moves across the stone as the stone is moved. Not sure that means anything but implies to me it is a different stone.

[Dennis]

Before this thread becomes a distant memory, I should like to mention that rings like this but with sharpened wings and made of a gaudy plastic, are sometimes sold in cookshops for peeling oranges.
So you might have just invented the ideal gift for the person who has everything: a gem-set orange peeler. Dennis