Albite Value, Price, and Jewelry Information

albite - sri lanka and new mexico
FELDSPAR: Albite, Sri Lanka (4.6), New Mexico (3.9). Photo © Joel E. Arem, PhD, FGA. Used with permission.

Albite, usually colorless but sometimes yellow, pink, gray or reddish. Translucent albite is sometime colored green by chrome jadeite. It is also a component of trapiche emeralds.

Albite Value

The International Gem Society (IGS) has a list of businesses offering gemstone appraisal services.

Albite Information

DataValue
NameAlbite
Is a Variety ofFeldspar
VarietiesPeristerite
Crystallography Triclinic. Twinned; platy crystals.
Refractive Index 1.527-1.544
Colors Colorless, white, yellow, pink, gray, reddish, greenish.
Luster Vitreous to pearly.
Fracture Uneven to conchoidal
Hardness 6 -6.5
Specific Gravity 2.57-2.69
Birefringence 0.008-0.011
Cleavage Perfect one direction; very good; imperfect
Dispersion 0.012
Luminescence Usually none; may be whitish in LW, lime green in X-rays (Kenya).
Transparency Transparent to opaque.
Absorption Spectrum Not diagnostic.
FormulaAb100, Ab90
Pleochroism None.
Optics α = 1.527; β = 1.531; γ = 1.538. Biaxial (+); 2V = 77°. See "Comments" for information on varieties.

Comments

Translucent albite is sometimes found that is colored a rich green by inclusions of chrome-rich jadeite. Albite is sometimes intergrown with emerald, especially in the strange hexagonal skeletal crystals known as trapiche emeralds. Facetable albite from Madagascar has indices: a = 1.530-1.531; β= 1.532-1.533; γ= 1.539-1.540; birefringence 0.009-0.010; density 2.62. Small faceted gems are fairly rare, almost always from the tips of cleavelandite crystals. Albite gems are colorless in most cases and not exciting to look at. Albite moonstones are known from many localities (discussed below).

Name

Albite comes from the Latin albus, meaning white, because the mineral is usually white.

Occurrence

Albite usually forms at low temperatures; it is common in pegmatites, granite, and other igneous rocks, various metamorphic rocks, also marbles.

  • Essex County New York.
  • Ontario, Canada; Quebec, Canada; Madagascar; Austria.
  • Rutherford Mine, Amelia, Virginia: fine colorless albite, facetable, large; crystals are platy variety known as cleavelandite.
  • Upson County, Georgia: moonstone.
  • South Dakota: cleavelandite.
  • Brazil: cleavelandite.
  • Kenya: colorless crystals, some with blue or yellow tinge.
  • (Indices: 1.535/1.539/1.544; S.G. 2.63). Many other localities worldwide.

Stone Sizes

Clean gems are usually in the 1-3 carat range, from cleavelandite crystals. Catseye gems up to about 50 carats are known.

  • Royal Ontario Museum (Toronto, Ontario, Canada): 12.25 (catseye, Burma).
  • Devonian Group (Calgary, Alberta, Canada): 11.13 (cateye, white).