Colors like Red Garnets, but with all of Zircon’s flash! Orangey-red to red to brownish-red…

They are not to be confused with Cubic Zirconia (CZ) which is a man-made substance.

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, Red 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 bright ruby-red color when they are first taken out. Once they are exposed to light they slowly turn into their ‘normal’ orangey-brownish-red color (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.

Notable sources for Red Zircons are East Africa and Australia. Many of them come out of the ground in attractive colors and don’t require any heat treatment (see product labelling on each gem).

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 Red Zircon – please contact us if you don’t find what you are looking for in our online inventory.