Judging quality
Judge by pattern quality and polish. Good jasper takes a glassy finish with no pitting; heavily stabilised or dyed material shows color pooling in cracks.
Chalcedony
Jasper
Opaque microcrystalline quartz colored by iron and clay impurities. Jasper is a family rather than a single stone, and named varieties — ocean, picture, mookaite, bumblebee — often come from a single deposit.
Care
Extremely durable. Soap and water.
History & lore
Jasper amulets appear in Egyptian, Minoan and Norse burials; the name descends through Latin and Greek from an older Semitic root.
Cultural history, recorded as tradition rather than as medical or scientific claim.
Common questions about Jasper
- What is Jasper?
- Opaque microcrystalline quartz colored by iron and clay impurities. Jasper is a family rather than a single stone, and named varieties — ocean, picture, mookaite, bumblebee — often come from a single deposit.
- How hard is Jasper and what is it made of?
- Jasper is a Chalcedony-family mineral with the composition SiO2. It crystallizes in the trigonal system and rates 6.5-7 on the Mohs hardness scale. It occurs in red, yellow, brown, multicolor.
- Where does Jasper come from?
- Notable localities for Jasper include USA (Oregon, Idaho), Madagascar, South Africa, India.
- How do you tell good Jasper from filler?
- Judge by pattern quality and polish. Good jasper takes a glassy finish with no pitting; heavily stabilised or dyed material shows color pooling in cracks.
- How do you care for Jasper?
- Extremely durable. Soap and water.
See it in person
Photographs only go so far
Both rooms are open six days a week, and there is always someone happy to pull pieces out of the case so you can compare them under the light.