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Hematite

An iridescent grey surface and metallic lustre makes this stone especially popular for jewellery. It was amongst the earliest stones in Greek and Roman times to be carved with cameos and intaglios for jewellery depicting subjects based on legends of Gods, Heroes and Demons. 

Hematite is a metallic silvery-grey opaque ore. The name hematite derives from the Greek word for ‘blood.’ This is because when the material is cut, the saw is coloured red. Hematite is popular in jewellery, it was amongst the earliest stones in Greek and Roman times to be carved with cameos and intaglios. The Victorians also used lots of hematite in mourning jewellery for it’s unique metallic lustre. Pure hematite is non magnetic but it may be intergrown with magnetic minerals. 

Deposits of gem-quality hematite have been found England, Brazil, China, New Zealand, Czech Republic and Italy. However, hematite was actually discovered on Mars in 2001 by the NASA spacecraft Mars Odyssey.

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