Benitoite
Sapphire-blue barium titanium silicate from one hillside in California.
- Family
- Benitoite
- Formula
- BaTiSi₃O₉
- Mohs
- 6 to 6.5
- System
- Hexagonal
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Science
Benitoite is a rare cyclosilicate that crystallises in the unusual ditrigonal-dipyramidal class, forming flat blue triangles on white natrolite with black neptunite. It has dispersion higher than diamond, and it fluoresces vivid blue under shortwave ultraviolet light.
- Mineral
- Benitoite
- Formula
- BaTiSi₃O₉
- Crystal system
- Hexagonal
- Mohs hardness
- 6 to 6.5
- Specific gravity
- 3.65
- Refractive index
- 1.757 to 1.804
- Lustre
- Vitreous
- Colours
- Blue, Colourless
Composition
BaTiSi₃O₉. Made of Barium, Titanium, Silicon, Oxygen.
Origin
- United StatesSan Benito County, California
Filled dots are primary sources
Rarity
Gem-quality benitoite occurs at one locality on Earth, mined out commercially in 2005. Cut stones over two carats are exceptional.
- 1 Abundant
- 2 Common
- 3 Uncommon
- 4 Rare
- 5 Exceptional
Hardness
Benitoite sits at 6 to 6.5 on the Mohs scale. Glass and a knife blade are about as hard; it wears well with care.
Energy
Associations from crystal-healing tradition, recorded here as folklore. They are not medical claims.
Chakras
- Throat
- Third Eye
Element
- Air
Zodiac
- Aquarius
Planets
- Uranus
Properties
- Insight
- Telepathy
- Joy
- Clarity of purpose
Lore
Prospector James Couch found it in 1907 looking for copper and thought it was sapphire; the University of California identified a new mineral. California made it the state gem in 1985.
It has no traditional lore; its practice associations are borrowed from blue sapphire.
- FluorescenceBright blue under shortwave UV, the diagnostic test.
- Dispersion0.044, higher than diamond's 0.044 in some directions.