Brazilian Hiddenite

Hiddenite is the emerald-green/pastel-green/yellowish-green variety of mineral Spodumene, named from the Greek ‘spodumenos’, which means ‘burnt to ashes’, in reference to its typical light grays. Frequently intensified using permanent enhancements, Spodumene’s colors are due to trace elements of iron (yellow to green), chromium (medium to deep green) and manganese (pink to purplish-red). While Spodumene is a relatively common mineral, transparent gemmy-crystals only occur at a handful of deposits globally. Spodumenes’ most famous gemstone, Kunzite was discovered in California around 1902, and was named in honor of George Frederick Kunz (1856 – 1932), the legendary gemologist credited with its identification. Spodumene’s other color variants are technically called ‘[Color Prefix] Spodumene’. Virtually unknown, Hiddenite was discovered in 1879, being named in 1881 by prominent chemist and mineralogist, Joseph Lawrence Smith (1818 – 1883), for exploration geologist, mineralogist and mining engineer, William Earl Hidden (1853 – 1918), who was influential in its identification. Hiddenite was found near the small, informal community of White Plains, situated west of Stony Point in North Carolina’s Alexander County. The crystals were initially thought to be gemmy Diopside, but after Hidden sent Smith samples, they were correctly identified as Spodumene. Thirty years after the naming of the mineral, the now town of White Plains was officially renamed ‘Hiddenite’ (1913) to honor the gemstone discovered nearby. Commissioned to North Carolina by Thomas Edison to (ultimately, unsuccessfully) look for platinum, Hidden’s gemstone discovery saw him establish ‘The Emerald & Hiddenite Mining Company’, which worked the deposit’s red, gravelly clay and bedrock. In 1892 Kunz described Hiddenite as, “always transparent, ranges from colorless (rare) to a light yellow, into a yellowish green, then into a deep yellow emerald green. Sometimes an entire crystal has a uniform green color, but generally one end is yellow and the other green”. Kunz also notes that the best crystal mined (pre-1892), measured 68 millimeters, cutting a gem weighing approximately 5 carats. At the time, most faceted Hiddenite from North Carolina were small, with the 2 Carat Hiddenite in the Augustus C. Hamlin Collection considered a fine ‘large’ specimen. Aside from North Carolina, American Hiddenite very occasionally occurs in California, New Hampshire, and South Dakota. While gem-quality Hiddenite from the USA is impossibly rare, it’s also occasionally scantly/sporadically found in the granite pegmatites (coarsely crystalline igneous rocks) of Brazil, China, Madagascar, and Sri Lanka. ‘Hiddenite’ historically referenced green, transparent Spodumene from North Carolina, but much like Paraíba Tourmaline and Padparadscha Sapphire, additional discoveries have seen this nomenclature evolve… Today, ‘Hiddenite’ correctly denotes color-stable Green Spodumene, regardless of coloring element (chromium or iron), enhancement, or origin. Colorless, pure yellow or photosensitive/color-unstable Green Spodumene is not Hiddenite. Colloquially called ‘Carolina Emerald’ and ‘Lithia Emerald’, as Hiddenites’ Spodumene not Beryl, these historic, common names are incorrect.