Ocean Jasper (Sea) Tumbled Gemstone

Non-toxic and durable. Rinse briefly under water and avoid prolonged soaking, harsh chemicals, and long sun exposure to protect its polish and color.

Ocean Jasper is found in only one place on earth, the northwest coast of Madagascar in the Analalava district of the Sofia region. The French mineralogist Alfred Lacroix noted chalcedony there as early as 1922, but the deposit was lost to the wider world until October 1999, when it was rediscovered along the shoreline at Marovato, reachable only at low tide. A second inland deposit at Kabamby, prized for its deep green and golden orbs, was first mined in 2002. Every piece is quite literally pulled from where the land meets the sea.

Ocean Jasper is a form of chalcedony, a microcrystalline variety of quartz composed of silicon dioxide. Though long sold as an orbicular jasper, recent study identifies it as chalcedony marked by spherulites, tiny spheres formed when quartz and other minerals crystallized radially outward in a silica-rich volcanic host. Trace iron and manganese produce its green, pink, yellow, red, and cream banding around each orb.

• Across antiquity jasper was carried as an amulet of protection and courage, set into the rings of Greek and Roman soldiers and named among the sacred stones of ancient priestly breastplates.
• Jasper earned the old title of the supreme nurturer, a stone believed to sustain its keeper through long hardship and illness, a reputation Judy Hall echoes in describing jasper as slow, steady, and deeply supportive.
• True Ocean Jasper surfaces only along Madagascar's tidal shore and was unknown to the modern world until 1999, so it carries no ancient legend of its own; its story is written by the sea that uncovers it at low tide and hides it again with each returning wave.