FEMININE FRIVOLITY

Kunzite is an amazing stone. In its gemstone mode, it is clear and found in a color that is hard to describe. Is it pink? Is it lavender? Is it an elusive combination of both? These stones are kunzite in the raw, hewed into cubes and displaying all the roughly feminine qualities of the stone -- delicacy and elusiveness. Like a sugary Christmas candy. I tried to civilize them somewhat by paring them with rhinestone-circled roundels. This piece is an absolute conversation-starter. A fairly new gemstone, kunzite was discovered in California and named by a turn-of-the-century (the 20th) jeweler and gemstone specialist named George Frederick Kunz. Kunzite can also be found elsewhere such as in Afghanistan where the colors tend to be more violet than pink and often have flashes of green. In gemology, this phenemenon is called pleochroism, which means "multi-coloredness." Most kunzite is light in color which makes a strongly hued kunzite rare and therefore more expensive. Price: $400.