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I'm partial towards San Carlos, Arizona, peridot because it is a true American gem. If you haven't already read my web pages on the San Carlos gemfield, click here. In spite of the fine peridot now coming out of Pakistan and China, San Carlos still produces the bulk of the world's supply of gem peridot. People who don't know better complain about its color (It's true some is an unattractive dark olive green), but the better material from this location is as fine as that from Pakistan, China, or any other area. This specimen shows how the San Carlos olivine occurs. The grey matrix is a vesicular basalt that surrounds nodules of shattered olivine. About one percent of these nodules contain fragments of gem grade peridot large enough to facet. This particular specimen is museum quality. I have been visiting San Carlos for many years and have never been able to obtain matrix specimens that contain such large, gemmy, fragments of peridot. Usually, nodules like this are broken apart so the gem material can be sold at a premium price as faceting gem rough. The blue arrow marks the location of a mass of large gemmy olivine fragments (See close-up here). If this specimen were to be broken apart these gemmy fragmenst could yield several 1-3 carat peridot gemstones. This piece has also been sawn flat on the bottom to make it sit nicely on a desktop or shelf. The specimen weighs approximately 16 pounds, is ~7" x 7" x 9" in size, and will fit in a USPS flat-rate box. (#M436, priced at $125.00 )
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