Orange gemstones and iconic jewelry pieces with pictures
Of all the colors that gemstones and crystals come in, orange is one of the rarest kinds. Due to this fact, orange gemstones may be more valuable and pricier than other colors.
Related articles on gemstones by color:
- The definite guide to purple gemstones: properties, meanings, jewelry with images
- List of blue gemstones, colors, meanings, specifications and iconic jewelry pieces with pictures
- 10 green gemstones to upgrade your jewelry box
Orange gemstones are often associated with the solar plexus chakra and symbolizes persistence. Here is a list of beautiful orange gemstones, including orange agate, amber, carnelian, fire opal or pyrophane, mandarin garnet and sunstone.
Agate: the stone of happiness
Saint Laurent Agate pendant necklace $347, SHOP NOW.
Agate is one of the seven treasures of Buddhism. It has been used as an amulet since ancient times. As the “birthstone of August”, agate is generally regarded as the stone of happiness. People believe that agate strengthens love, helps to improve the relationship between your lover and yourself, and therefore boosts harmony.
Large Red Agate Tumbled Stone, $4.9, Check this item on Etsy.
Amber: one of the most interesting orange gemstones
Natural amber pendant in silver, $118, check it on Etsy.
Orange amber is one of the most interesting orange gemstones because it is not a crystal. It is fossilized resin, and in some pieces of amber a person may find a tiny insect or a leaf trapped for millions of years. This is actually desirable in an amber specimen.
The color of amber depends on the type of tree that created it. Orange and yellow are the most popular colors. Orange amber probably came from a deciduous tree.
The way the value of amber is determined is complex. It is based on where the amber came from as well as its appearance. Amber can be clear or cloudy, then cloudy amber is further subdivided into fatty, bony or foamy. It is sometimes found washed up on a beach in locales such as the Baltic states, Russia, Myanmar, England and the Netherlands.
Amber is mostly made of carbon, with some hydrogen and oxygen. It is not hard, with a rating of 2 to 3 and has a resinous, greasy luster. It is not just valued for jewelry but by archaeologists because it is essentially a fossil.
Baltic Amber Bracelet $10, SHOP NOW.
The meaning of amber is clearing and healing. Ancients believed that it provided light for the dead as they traversed the underworld.
Amber is extremely heat sensitive and needs to be protected even from strong sunlight and should not be exposed to chemicals. It feels warm when it’s held and floats in salt water. It is sometimes found washed up on a beach.
Carnelian: inexpensive and popular
Petite Grand gemstone hoops $117, check this item on Farfetch.
In contrast to fluorite, orange is a common color for carnelian. Carnelian is a type of chalcedony, which belongs to the quartz family. It gets the orange color from iron oxides that are found in the otherwise colorless stone.
Most of the best orange carnelian comes from South America, and other good specimens are mined in Russia, the Czech Repulbic, Ukraine, the Slovak Republic and the United States. It’s sometimes heat-treated to enhance the color. Naturally the gem is often opaque and turned into beads, cameos or cabochons.
Orange carnelian is a fairly inexpensive gemstone and is popular for signet rings.
It has a hardness rating of 6.5 and has no cleavage. When it’s broken it beaks into sell-shaped, or conchoidal pieces, and its luster is vitreous to waxy.
The meaning of these orange gemstones is to help achieve goals, motivation and vitality. It was given to a dying person to ease their transition into the afterlife and to bring them happiness in their next life, so another meaning of carnelian is rebirth.
Diamond: even more valuable than a white or colorless diamond
0.40CT Pear Cut Orange Loose Diamond $230, SHOP NOW.
A diamond is usually made of pure carbon, but an orange diamond has a precise grouping of nitrogen atoms among the carbon that absorb the colors blue and yellow to a lesser degree to produce orange.
Like other colored diamonds, an orange diamond is called “fancy” and may be even more valuable than a white or colorless diamond. This depends on the size of the orange gem, whether it has inclusions and how perfectly it is cut, and since it’s colored, how rich its color is. It’s unusual to find a colored diamond whose color is intense.
A diamond is the hardest material on earth, and its Mohs hardness scale rating is 10. It luster is adamantine, or diamond-like.
It is produced over millions of years deep in the earth. It is found, famously, in the Kimberley mines of South Africa as well as India, Brazil, Namibia, Russia, Botswana and Australia, though diamonds can also be produced in the lab and can be colored artificially through radiation.
A diamond symbolizes purity, love and unbreakable willpower.
Fire Opal or Pyrophane: luckiest and most amazing gemstone with great colors
Genuine Mexican Fire Opal Stud Earrings In Silver $17, Check This Item on Etsy.
Opal is the birthstone of October. In fact, throughout most of human history, opal has been considered the luckiest and most amazing gemstone thanks to its excellent capability to present all of colors on it own.
Translucent to opaque, generally in orange, red or brown. Among all fire opals, the bright red is the most expensive.
Fire opal is often associated with Mexico. In deed most high-quality ones are produced in Mexico, like Queretaro, Hidalgo, Guerrero, Michoacan or other places. The most important mining site of fire opals, Queretaro, was discovered in 1835 and is till in production so far.
Mandarin Garnet- Spessartite: vibrant colors and affordable prices
Source: Harry Winston Mandarin Garnet Ring with Turquoise and Diamonds.
Garnet, which evolved from the Latin word “Granatum”, means “like a seed”. The most common color of garnet is red, but it has a broad range, covering almost the entire spectrum of colors.
Mandarin garnet as a spessartite is a member of the large garnet family. In the 1990s, this beautiful stone was firstly found in Namibia, Africa, and called “hollandine”. Later, experts identified that that it was actually a rare garnet. Ever since, these orange gemstones with their vibrant colors have played an important role in the garnet family as well as the jewelry industry.
Natural Spessartite Orange Garnet $112, SHOP NOW.
Although the vivid orange tone of mandarin garnet is controlled by manganese, the final presentation is actually influenced by iron: when the level of iron is high, it appears orange-red and brown-red; when the level of iron content is low, it appears as golden-orange. Therefore, in order to obtain a pure, bright and vivid orange color, the ratio of manganese to iron must be just right.
Raw Mandarin Garnet Natural Spessartite Rough $32, SHOP NOW.
Sapphire: vitreous or glassy luster, can be extremely rare
Source: David Morris sapphire cocktail ring.
Most people think of a blue gem when the think of a sapphire, but a sapphire can be any color but red. If it’s red it’s called a ruby. Any sapphire that’s not blue is called a fancy sapphire.
Sapphire and ruby are types of corundum, which is the second hardest material on earth with a Mohs hardness scale rating of 9.
An orange sapphire has a vitreous or glassy luster. An ordinary orange sapphire is not quite as rare as an orange diamond, but there is a type of pink-orange sapphire called the padparadscha sapphire. It gets its name from a Sanskrit word used to describe the color of a type of lotus. These orange sapphires are extremely rare and can cost more than a sapphire that is the traditional blue. The UK’s Princess Eugenie has an engagement ring set with this orange stone.
Annoushka 18kt yellow gold Hidden Reef sapphire bangle $6,700, SHOP NOW.
Good deposit of sapphires are found in Africa, Australia, Myanmar, Kashmir, Sri Lanka and the U.S. state of Montana. Sapphires are often heat treated to improve their color and their clarity. Some orange sapphires are irradiated to intensify their color. Like diamonds, sapphires can be created artificially through a flame-fusion process or the Verneuil technique.
The orange sapphire symbolizes wisdom, strength and power.
Faceted Orange Sapphire Rondelle Beads $27, SHOP NOW.
Spinel: the highly prized “rainbow gem”
Physical Features: singly refractive, a wide range of hues
This gemstone is unique in the fact that it is singly refractive, meaning that it exhibits the same crystal properties in all directions.
It offers a wide range of hues, from an intense “firetruck” red to vibrant pinks, blues, purples, oranges, and greens. The color of this stone is determined by its trace minerals, often a mixture of iron, chromium, and cobalt.
Spinels are fairly hard, with this August birthstone registering as an 8.0 on the Mohs’ Scale.
Natural Spinel Loose Gemstone $54, SHOP NOW.
Meanings: a stone of hope and revitalization
Spinel is considered as a stone of hope and revitalization. Since it comes in a variety of colors, it is thought to revitalize every chakra. Many people wear pendants or rings of this gemstone in order to pull themselves out of negative thoughts, regain a sense of energy, and find new enthusiasm for life.
It is thought to widen its wearers’ perspectives by bringing fresh energy to the mind, body, and spirit.
Sunstone: the metallic glitter reminds us of the warmth of the sun.
AAA Fiery Natural Sunstone Round Beads Orange Gemstones $13, SHOP NOW.
Also called oligoclase, this stone also comes in many colors as well as orange. It was very rare and expensive until the 1800s when large deposits were found in Siberia. Most sunstones are orange or reddish, and they fascinate people by the metallic glitter that reminds them of the warmth of the sun.
Sunstone is opaque and is often cut as cabochons. It has a hardness of 6 to 6.5 and a dull to vitreous luster. It is unusual to find a transparent sunstone, and they are valued by a characteristic called schiller, which is the refraction of light within the layers of the gem. The Oregon type of sunstone has inclusions of copper that give it a beautiful schiller and makes it more expensive than regular orange sunstone.
Orange Sunstone Ring $56, SHOP NOW.
Sunstone is mined from metamorphic and igneous environments, including lava flows. Besides Siberia and Oregon, it’s found in Scandinavia, India and Canada. These orange gemstones symbolize confidence and help the owner discover and increase their hidden power.
Topaz: rare and highly valued
Source: CARTIER Serpendor Necklace yellow gold, one 41.99 carat cushion-shaped topaz.
Dark orange crystals of topaz are called hyacinth and are rare and highly valued, though more common topaz is not that expensive. Topaz is a type of hydrous aluminum fluorosilicate and gets its color from trace amounts of iron and chromium. It is found in veins of granite pegmatites in places such as Australia, Brazil, Nigeria, Pakistan, Sri Lanka and the United States. Crystals are usually found with one end attached to a rock. Topaz is heavier than it looks, and large specimens of the crystal may be expensive.
Parts of Four Talisman dangle earring $457, SHOP NOW.
Orange topaz has a hardness rating of 8 and a vitreous luster and is pricy because it has a perfect cleavage. This makes it a bit challenging to cut because the stone can easily split or crack. Indeed, sometimes all it takes for a piece of topaz to crack is the warmth of a human hand.
These orange gemstones can heal the energy of the person who owns it and enhance their creativity. Orange topaz especially symbolizes persistence.
Natural Imperial Topaz Gemstone $36, SHOP NOW.
Tourmaline: love my family, love me
Natural Orange Color Faceted Tourmaline $171, SHOP NOW.
Tourmaline: the rainbow that fell into the earth
In 1500, a Portuguese exploration team discovered a gem in Brazil that glowed with colorful neon lights. This gem hidden at the foot of the rainbow that day was therefore called tourmaline by future generations, also known as “the rainbow that fell into the earth“.
At present, tourmaline together with ruby, sapphire, aquamarine, tanzanite, emerald, is classified as precious gemstones, which is deeply loved by the public and have huge market values.
Tourmalines have the most abundant colors among all kinds of gems. Thanks to its complex composition, among which iron, magnesium, lithium, manganese, aluminum and other elements can be replaced with one another, the combination and quantity of each ion directly affect the colors of tourmalines.
Natural 5 pieces Fancy Orange Tourmaline rough $23, SHOP NOW.
Meanings of tourmalines
The tourmaline has bright and vivid colors like the rainbow, which gives people a happy and cheerful feeling, helps to expand their minds and horizons, and has a certain auxiliary treatment effect for curing mental illness such as depression.
The energy contained in these gemstones has a calming effect, which helps people focus. In addition, those changeable colors inspire ideas and creativity, so that people could behave steadily, do their best, and make their careers flourish.
Tourmaline can also emit a magnetic field with great affinity, which can eliminate the indifference among individuals, and therefore have a natural attracting effect regarding love and friendship. At the same time, people wearing tourmaline jewelry can release more charm and become more attractive.
Zircon: so many colors, and affordable prices
Natural Zircon pear cut $58, SHOP NOW.
Zircon is a type of zirconium silicate and is not the same as cubic zirconia. It can come in a variety of colors naturally or can be heat treated to produce even more, including orange. It has a hardness rating of 7.5 and can be cut the same way as diamonds and other gemstones though it is far more brittle.
Orange zircon has a vitreous to adamantine luster. It is found as an accessory mineral in igneous ricks such as granite and in hydrothermal vents in such locales as Australia, Sri Lanka, Thailand and Vietnam. It is often substituted for gemstones of greater value such as sapphires or diamonds but is much more prone to chipping. It can grow dull and dark if it’s exposed to too much sunlight.
Zircon is thought to foster love and protect against evil.
Conclusion on orange gemstones
Thank you for reading this article on orange gemstones, feel to share your thoughts below or check other articles on gemstones that we have published.
- Blue gemstones: Aquamarine, Diamond blue, Indicolite or Blue Tourmaline, Sapphire, Tanzanite, Topaz blue, Spinel blue
- Green gemstones: Agate Green, Amazonite, Aventurine, Bloodstone, Emerald, Jade, Malachite, Peridot, Tourmaline Green, Tsavorites- known as Garnet green
- Purple gemstones: Amethyst, Chalcedony Purple, Kunzite, Sapphire purple, Sugilite, Tourmaline Purple
- Red gemstones: Carnelian, Diamond red, Fire Opal or Pyrophane, Rhodolite- red garnet, Rubellite- red tourmaline, Ruby, Spinel red
- Orange gemstones: Amber Orange, Carnelian Orange, Diamond Orange, Fire Opal or Pyrophane, Fluorite Orange, Sapphire Orange, Sunstone Orange, Sphalerite Orange, Sunstone Orange, Topaz Orange, Zircon Orange
