White Zircons are the ORIGINAL Diamond substitute! If anyone asks, ‘Is it Real?’ The answer is ‘YES!’

White Zircon are real gemstones mined from the Earth. These gems are not to be confused with Cubic Zirconia (CZ) which is a man-made substance.

For centuries people turned to White Zircon with its wonderful properties when they were trying to achieve the look of a diamond without the price.

The manufacture and mass-marketing of Cubic Zirconia in the late 1970’s led to White Zircons being an almost-forgotten gem, and probably led to the undervaluation of Natural Zircons.

Significant sources of White Zircon include East Africa and Cambodia. They are routinely heated to achieve their white or near-colorless appearance. Occasionally we get Natural, unheated gems too (see product labelling for each gem).

The name ‘Zircon’ derives from the Persian word ‘zargun’ meaning golden hued. Zircons (and possibly other gems) in the pinkish-purplish-reddish color range were historically referred to as “Hyacinth” or “Jacinth”.

Occasionally, White Zircons will have tenebrescence. This is a rare property that only some zircons have. Gems stored in a dark area (e.g. safe) will have a greyish or light brown color when they are first taken out. Once they are exposed to light they slowly turn into their ‘normal’ near-colorless state (usually within a few minutes). This is a fascinating phenomenon that can be repeated over and over again!

Tenebrescence is also known as reversible photochromism. This property is used in synthetic materials to manufacture photochromic or ‘transition’ sunglasses, which darken on exposure to sunlight.

Zircons have extremely high dispersion of 0.038, which is the optical property that splits light into its component colors. That explains all those flashes of color when we look at these beautiful gems.

Their refractive index (RI) is also very high ranging from 1.81 to 1.98 and they are durable with a hardness of 7-7.5 for ‘high’ zircons.

Natural Zircons are still available at a fraction of the price of most other gemstones, making them the last undervalued gem!

Zircon is December’s birthstone, providing a lot of color choice for December birthdays!

We have many more colors, shapes and sizes available in White Zircon – please contact us if you don’t find what you are looking for in our online inventory.