IOLITEAccording to legend, Vikings used polite slices to reduce glare when checking the sun's position.
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Iolite Description
Iolite's strong pleochroism makes the gem tricky to cut for best color. This in turn continues to pose challenges to producers and buyers interested in promoting the attractive yet problematic gem to retailers as an affordable blue-gem alternative.
Iolites are usually cut as faceted gems, but they are also frequently cut into cabochons.
Iolite is rarely treated. Fine polite comes by its beautiful blues and violets naturally. Its freedom from enhancement other than normal cutting and polishing is a sell point when customers consider that most blue gems, from inexpensive blue topaz to fine sapphire, receive routine treatment of one type or another.
Iolites are usually cut as faceted gems, but they are also frequently cut into cabochons.
Iolite is rarely treated. Fine polite comes by its beautiful blues and violets naturally. Its freedom from enhancement other than normal cutting and polishing is a sell point when customers consider that most blue gems, from inexpensive blue topaz to fine sapphire, receive routine treatment of one type or another.
More about Iolite
When tanzanite was first discovered, gemologists initially suspected it might be cordierite, a transparent, pleochroic, violet-blue gem known for thousands of years. Today, cordierite (named after geologist Pierre Cordier) is better known by its trade name, polite, which comes from the Greek word "ios," meaning "violet."
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