Hardness: 5.00
Refractive Index: 1.63-1.64
Specific Gravity: 3.20
Birthstone: December
Astral Stone:
Anniversary Stone:
Origination: Myanmar, Sri Lanka, Brazil, East Africa, Mexico & Spain
Care & Cleaning: Apatite is an extremely fragile gem that should be handled with care. It is best set in earrings and pendants, and is not considered suitable for bracelets. Clean with a soft polishing cloth or plain water rinse.
Fiction, Facts & Folklore:
Apatite can be found in many colors, including pink, yellow and a lovely shade of turquoise, its� most common form. It also is sometimes found in a clear, colorless state.
Apatite in its usual blue-green state closely resembles the costly aqua tourmaline from the Paraiba mine in Brazil.
Other than color, the two gems have nothing in common. Apatite is relatively affordable, while the Paraiba tourmaline is one of the most expensive of its group.
The most sought after color of apatite is violet.
A green variety of apatite found in Spain is sometimes known as �asparagus stone�.
Apatite occasionally is found to posses a cat�s eye effect. As one might expect, these gems are always cut en cabochon.
Astrologers often link apatite cat�s-eye with the southern lunar node Ketu.