 |
 |
 |
|
ABALONE
|
 |
An organic gemstone with a variable chemical composition. It is the shell of a sea snail which lives mainly on rocks in warm water throughout the world.
It has a glassy sheen and complete shells may be used as ashtrays.
It is fairly soft on the mohs scale (3.5-4) and may be found in US, South Africa, and Mexico.
It is a silicate of iron and aluminium and may also contain inclusions such as rutile/hornblende. It can be red-black in colour and is dense and fairly brittle.
It's name is derived from city of Alabanda in Turkey. It is fairly hard (7-7.5 on the mohs scale) and may be used as an abrasive.
It can be found world wide but mainly in metamorphic rock, particularly in those that contain significant quantities of manganese. It may be found in Australia, Brazil, India and Sri Lanka.
