Hiddenite is a pale-to-emerald green variety of spodumene that is sometimes used as a

gemstone A gemstone (also called a fine gem, jewel, precious stone, semiprecious stone, or simply gem) is a piece of mineral crystal which, when cut or polished, is used to make jewellery, jewelry or other adornments. Certain Rock (geology), rocks (such ...

. The first specimens of the hiddenite variety of spodumene were recovered circa 1879 near the settlement of White Plains, west of Stony Point, Alexander County, North Carolina. According to contemporary accounts, a man named Lackey brought them to the attention of J.A.D. Stephenson, a local merchant who was a collector of minerals. Initially, the yellowish to greenish-yellow hiddenites were thought to be gemmy diopside. Stephenson brought the discovery to the attention of exploration geologist William Earl Hidden, who had been commissioned by Thomas Edison to seek sources of platinum in North Carolina (an effort that was unsuccessful). Hidden sent samples of the odd green material to J. Lawrence Smith, a prominent chemist and mineralogist in

Louisville, Kentucky Louisville is the List of cities in Kentucky, most populous city in the Commonwealth of Kentucky, sixth-most populous city in the Southeastern United States, Southeast, and the list of United States cities by population, 27th-most-populous city ...

. Smith correctly identified the specimens as being a variety of spodumene and named them "hiddenite" in honor of Hidden. The community in which the gemstones were first found was later renamed " Hiddenite". During the heyday of hiddenite mining in the 1880s and 1890s it was also known as "lithia emerald". Hidden recognized the value of the emeralds and the potential of the new gemmy green spodumene. He acquired a tract of poor quality land, which was either the site of the initial discovery or near to it, for $1500. The Emerald and Hiddenite Mining Company was organized and excavations on the site recovered loose hiddenites and emeralds in the red, gravelly clay. At a depth of about 26 feet they struck bedrock, and soon were recovering hiddenites from solid rock. Oddly, period newspaper accounts and statements by

George Frederick Kunz George Frederick Kunz (September 29, 1856 – June 29, 1932) was an American mineralogist and mineral collector. Biography Kunz was born in New York City, USA, and began an interest in minerals at a very young age. By his teens, he had amas ...

(1892) indicate that mining on the site was never undertaken as a full-time operation, but was only prosecuted a few weeks or months during the summer. Writing in 1892, Kunz described the hiddenite being recovered as "always transparent, ranges from colorless (rare) to a light yellow, into a yellowish green, then into a deep yellow emerald green. Sometimes an entire crystal has a uniform green color, but generally one end is yellow and the other green." Kunz noted that the finest crystal recovered prior to 1892 measured 68 mm tall, and could have cut a gem of 5.5ct estimated weight. The size of most cut gems were small, with a 2ct hiddenite in the Augustus C. Hamlin collection being considered among the finest of the large stones. The coloring agent is

chromium Chromium is a chemical element; it has Symbol (chemistry), symbol Cr and atomic number 24. It is the first element in Group 6 element, group 6. It is a steely-grey, Luster (mineralogy), lustrous, hard, and brittle transition metal. Chromium ...

. Colors can gradually fade. Hiddenite has a strong vitreous luster and displays strong colors due to

pleochroism Pleochroism is an optical phenomenon in which a substance has different colors when observed at different angles, especially with Polarization (waves), polarized light. Etymology The roots of the word are from Greek (). It was first made compou ...

. In addition to the

North Carolina North Carolina ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It is bordered by Virginia to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the east, South Carolina to the south, Georgia (U.S. stat ...

locality, Hiddenite has been found in

Brazil Brazil, officially the Federative Republic of Brazil, is the largest country in South America. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by area, fifth-largest country by area and the List of countries and dependencies by population ...

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. With population of China, a population exceeding 1.4 billion, it is the list of countries by population (United Nations), second-most populous country after ...

, and

Madagascar Madagascar, officially the Republic of Madagascar, is an island country that includes the island of Madagascar and numerous smaller peripheral islands. Lying off the southeastern coast of Africa, it is the world's List of islands by area, f ...

. Green spodumene found in

Afghanistan Afghanistan, officially the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan, is a landlocked country located at the crossroads of Central Asia and South Asia. It is bordered by Pakistan to the Durand Line, east and south, Iran to the Afghanistan–Iran borde ...

and

Pakistan Pakistan, officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by population, fifth-most populous country, with a population of over 241.5 million, having the Islam by country# ...

has excited modest amounts of controversy in the mineral and gemological communities with debate over whether or not it should be truly considered "hiddenite" as well as claims that the green coloration is induced by irradiation and is fugitive. Deposits occur in

granite Granite ( ) is a coarse-grained (phanerite, phaneritic) intrusive rock, intrusive igneous rock composed mostly of quartz, alkali feldspar, and plagioclase. It forms from magma with a high content of silica and alkali metal oxides that slowly coo ...

pegmatite A pegmatite is an igneous rock showing a very coarse texture, with large interlocking crystals usually greater in size than and sometimes greater than . Most pegmatites are composed of quartz, feldspar, and mica, having a similar silicic c ...

References

* Anonymous (1885): Taylorsville And Aleck, Their Resources and Advantages, Their Enterprise and Progress, The Landmark (newspaper), 8 May 1885 * Brush, George B., and Dana, Edward S., (1878) On a new and remarkable mineral locality in Fairfield County, Connecticut American Journal of Science, 3d ser., 16, 33–46 (1878). * Brush, George B., and Dana, Edward S., (1880) On the mineral locality at Branchville, Connecticut. Fourth paper. Spodumene and the results of its alteration American Journal of Science, 3d ser., 20, 257–284 (1880). * Davidson, S. C. (1927) The Hiddenite Occurrence in North Carolina American Mineralogist Vol. 27, pp 305–307 * Egleston, T. (1872) Lectures in Mineralogy Van Nostrand, New York * Genth, F. A. (1883) Hiddenite American Journal of Science Vol. 23 series 3, p68 * Shainin, Vincent E. (1946) The Branchville, Connecticut, Pegmatite American Mineralogist Volume 31, pages 329–345, 1946 * Smith, J. L. (1881) Hiddenite American Journal of Science Vol. 21 ser 3 pp 128–30 (1881)

External links

{{Wikisource1911Enc, Hiddenite Gemstones he:הידניט