Sikhote-Alin Meteorite with Citrine and Cubic Zirconia Pendant

Citrine is a semi-precious gemstone.  It is best described as a beautiful yellow transparent gemstone.  It is a form of yellow quartz; although it very often resembles a yellow topaz.  Yellow clear quartz is called citrine, purple quartz is called amethyst.  Sometimes these two colours will appear together, the combination citrine and amethyst stones are called ametrines.  Citrine and ametrine are fairly hard stones; they measure 7 hardness on the Moh’s scale.  

Some believe that is useful for people who can’t slow down, it is said to allow people to slow down and relax.  Some believe ametrine may be useful in helping people adjust to change.

Cubic zirconia or CZ is actually a very rare mineral in nature called zirconium dioxide. Most cubic zirconia is created as a diamond replacement. It is prized for its fiery brilliance, it very closely resembles a diamond. Most gemologists must use different tests to see if the item is diamond or cz. Included in these tests are water density tests, scratch tests (CZ is slightly softer than diamonds), light dispersion tests, UV shortwave tests, and others, it is not possible to tell diamond from cz with the naked eye. 

During the growth process, certain metal oxides may be added to produce different colors of CZ. Diamonds are also available in these other colors, but more rarely. Included in the CZ lineup of unusual colors are brown or coffee color (caused by adding titanium), canary or yellow color (cerium), orange (more cerium), red (even more cerium), lavender (neodymium), blue, pink (erbium), or green (chromium). With the popularity of colored diamonds increasing and their price out of this world, the popularity of cz has increased immensely over the past few years. 

Not everyone can afford a big diamond, but CZ not makes it easier for us to all add some “bling” to our sense of style and fashion. In fact, many CZ stones are more brilliant than their diamond counterparts. CZ has come into its own as a diamond replacement, and a fine fashion accessory.

Sikhote Alin was a very large meteorite fall that occurred on February 12, 1947 at 10.30am in the Primorskiy Region, Sikhotaulin Mountains of eastern Siberia. It was witnessed by many people who reported a fireball brighter than the sun that came out of the north, descending at an angle of about 41 degrees. The noise of the explosion was heard 300km away. It left a cloud of dust and fume 30km in length which was visible for several hours. The largest fragment weighs 1.75 ton and is on display in Moscow. The sikhote alin meteorite is one of the few iron meteorites.  It has been studied extensively by many Universities and may also be found in several museum collections.  

This meteorite has a unique crystallization known as the Widmanstatten crystal structure.  These lines are shown as a unique etched pattern on the meteorite.  This pattern is the result of the meteorite cooling in outer space over billions of years. Although not as finely detailed as other meteorites, these pieces still display this pattern when cut and etched with acid.

As this meteorite is composed mostly of iron, care must be taken to prevent the piece from rusting.  Direct exposure to water is not recommended.  Oil the piece regularly with mineral oil or olive oil.  Do not leave the piece laying around on wet surfaces.