Moonstone & Labradorite Two-Stone Cuff Bracelet

Safe to handle and non-toxic, but moonstone has perfect cleavage and can chip or split with a sharp knock. Avoid ultrasonic and steam cleaners, harsh chemicals, salt and long soaks, and store it apart from harder stones.

Moonstone has been treasured since antiquity: the Romans believed it was moonlight made solid, and its older name, hecatolite, honors the Greek goddess Hecate. Its variety name adularia was coined in 1780 by Ermenegildo Pini for the Adula Massif in the Swiss Alps. Myanmar once produced the finest transparent stones with a strong blue sheen, and Sri Lanka leads commercial production today.

Moonstone is a feldspar made of potassium-rich orthoclase and sodium-rich albite that separate into microscopically thin alternating layers as the host rock cools. Light scattering between these layers creates adularescence, a floating blue to white sheen; thinner layers give a bluer glow. It has the general formula (Na,K)AlSi3O8, crystallizes in the monoclinic system, shows perfect cleavage and rates 6 to 6.5 on the Mohs scale.

• Ancient Romans believed moonstone was formed from solidified rays of moonlight and linked it with their moon goddess Diana.
• In India, moonstone has long been regarded as sacred and was believed to be made of frozen moonlight, a stone of sweet dreams and good fortune.
• Its old name, hecatolite, honors Hecate, the Greek goddess of the moon, the night and the crossroads, and the Greeks likewise tied the stone to their lunar deities.