• The word “peridot” comes from the Arabic “faridat,” meaning gem.
• In the past, peridot was often confused with other gems such as topaz and emerald. The Red Sea island of topazios, thought to be a source of the name “topaz,” actually produced peridot.
• The Shrine of the Three Holy Kings in Germany’s Cologne Cathedral is decorated with 200 carats of gems that were originally believed to be emeralds but turned out to be peridot.
• Peridots are formed deep within the mantle of the earth, in volcanic rocks called basalts, and are brought the surface by volcanic activity.
• Peridot is the gem variety of the mineral olivine. Many other minerals contain trace elements that change their color, even producing different gems, but olivine, with its chemical composition of iron and magnesium, only comes in shades of green, and only produces one gemstone, peridot.
• The color range for peridot is narrow, from a brown-green color to yellowish green to pure green. Yellowish green is the most common peridot color seen in jewelry.
• Both a day stone and a night stone, Peridot keeps its shining color even under artificial lighting. For this reason, it is sometimes called "Evening Emerald".
• Though rare, Peridot can have an extraterrestrial source, contained in nickel-iron and Olivine meteorites that have fallen to earth.
• The Egyptian island of Zabargad, the name of the island that used to be called Topazios, is the oldest recorded source of this gemstone. Mining may have begun around 340–279 BCE.
• Most of the peridot seen in jewelry today comes from sources such as China, Myanmar, Pakistan, Tanzania, Vietnam and the United States.
• Arizona is the main source of peridot in the United States. Massive volcanic eruptions many thousands of years ago sent rivers of lava spilling across the desert landscape of what is today the San Carlos Apache Indian Reservation, bringing Peridot to the surface. An estimated 80 to 95 percent of the world’s peridot supply is found here.
• Peridot can also be found in exotic locales like Peridot Beach, Hawaii, where the sands shimmer a luminous green.
• This gemstone saw a revival in the 1990s when new deposits were discovered in Pakistan, producing some of the finest peridots ever found. Some of these “Kashmir Peridots” measured more than 100 carats.
• Peridot was valued in many ancient and medieval cultures and appeared in priests’ jewelry as early as the second century BCE and later in the chalices and churches of medieval Europe.
• With a hardness of 6.5 to 7 on the Mohs scale of harness, peridot is softer than many gems and cannot take hard wear so care must be taken to protect it.
• Peridot can be pronounced both with the “t” (pear-a-dot) or without the “t” (pear-a-doe) at the end.
• Peridot is the gem given to celebrate a 15th wedding anniversary.
• Peridot is the birthstone for August.

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