Unakite specimens

These specimens are from Brazil, South America.

M565 - Pretty tumble polished specimens of Unakite. Unakite is often referred to as epidotized granite and is a mixture of pink feldspar, green epidote, and quartz. Unakite is ideally used in for making beads, cabochons, jewelry, carvings, eggs and spheres, and paperweights. Unakite is mainly found in the regions of South Africa, Brazil, and China.

First discovered in the United States in the Unakas mountians fo North Carolina, Unakite is an altered granite. It exists in various shades of green and pink and is usually mottled in appearance. In good quality unakite is considered a semiprecious gemstone. It is also referred to as epidotized granite. In some of the Blue Ridge occurrences an epidotized augen gneiss is present exhibiting foliation structures.

Unakite can be found as pebbles and cobbles from glacial drift in the beach rock on the shores of Lake Superior. It occurs in Virginia where it is found in the river valleys after having been washed down from the Blue Ridge Mountains. Unakite is not limited to the United States, and is reported from South Africa, Sierra Leone, Brazil, and China as well as the United States. Some material labeled unakite lacks the quartz and is more properly epidosite. Unakite has a hardness of 6 to 7 making it ideal for use as a gemstone.

Great looking Unakite - tumble-polished.