Malachite

Malachite is a beautiful decorative stone. Its rich, patterned coloration in shades of green is unique among gems. Malachite’s relative softness makes it easy to work. Despite its low hardness, it also takes a polish very well. These qualities, combined with ready availability, make malachite a popular choice for lapidary artistry. This stone is used extensively to make cabochons, beads, boxes, inlays, and carvings of all kinds. With great care, malachite can also be turned on a lathe to make goblets and candlesticks. Facetable crystals would be microscopic in size, since larger crystals are too opaque to let light through. A faceted malachite gem larger than ½ carat would be opaque. (Fibrous aggregates are packed masses of crystals. These also take a high polish).