Learn everything you need to know about maw sit sit, a rare, vibrant green gem rock used to make beautiful jewelry and decorative objects.
6 Minute Read
Maw sit sit (also written as maw-sit-sit, maw-sit sit, and mawsitsit) is a chromium-rich, metamorphic rock with bright green color that typically displays black (or sometimes white) spots, bands, and swirls. As a rock, this material is actually a mix of many different minerals. The composition of different specimens can also vary. However, they usually contain pyroxenes — including kosmochlor and jadeite — as well as albite, chromite, and other minerals. All these minerals contain chromium, which gives this rock its intensely green color.
The noted Swiss gemologist Edward Gubelin first identified this gem material in 1964 after visiting the jadeite mining area of northwest Myanmar (Burma). He recounts that when he asked local lapidaries what this material was, they replied they were “‘stones called Maw-sit sit’ or ‘stones from Maw-sit sit.’” These stones originated from the region around the village of Tawmaw, hence the name.
Although maw sit sit was first identified as a unique type of lapidary
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Maw sit sit (also written as maw-sit-sit, maw-sit sit, and mawsitsit) is a chromium-rich, metamorphic rock with bright green color that typically displays black (or sometimes white) spots, bands, and swirls. As a rock, this material is actually a mix of many different minerals. The composition of different specimens can also vary. However, they usually contain pyroxenes — including kosmochlor and — as well as , , and other minerals. All these minerals contain chromium, which gives this rock its intensely green color.
…The noted Swiss gemologist Edward Gubelin first identified this gem material in 1964 after visiting the jadeite mining area of northwest Myanmar (Burma). He recounts that when he asked local lapidaries what this material was, they replied they were “‘stones called Maw-sit sit’ or ‘stones from Maw-sit sit.’” These stones originated from the region around the village of Tawmaw, hence the name.
Although maw sit sit was first identified as a unique type of lapidary
Learn everything you need to know about maw sit sit, a rare, vibrant green gem rock used to make beautiful jewelry and decorative objects.
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