Sphene Stone Beads
Sphene
Stone beads are formed from titanium accessory minerals. These beads
derive their color from titanium minerals. Since these minerals are
found in brown and yellow color, hence these beads are fundamentally
found either in yellow or brown color. The Sphene beads are found
either in transparent form to translucent form. Sphene beads are
also known as "titanite", because some titanium content is
present in these sphene beads. These Sphene beads have vivid and unique color shades. The colors of Sphene beads are yellow, green, reddish brown, gray, and red. Twinning is common in sphene beads. The different designs, shapes, color-shades etc have made these beads very lucrative for the bead collectors. These beads are used in golden-jewelry and diamond-jewelry. The countries where these beads are found are Canada, Italy, Pakistan, Russia and U.S.A. Specific gravity of these beads varies between 3.52 and 3.54. Refractive index of these beads is in between of 1.885-1.990 to 1.915-2.050.
Sphene Stone
Chemical Formula: CaTiSiO5
Color: Brown to Yellow Color
Hardness: 5 - 5.5
Specific Gravity: 3.52 - 3.54
Sphene is a titanium accessory mineral in some granite and metamorphic rocks, CaTiSiO5, occurring in usually small brown or yellow crystals and sometimes used as a gemstone. Due to the titanium content present in Sphene, it is also called titanite. It derives its name from the Greek word for wedge, due to its typical wedge shaped crystal habit.
It can be cut as a gemstone that has unique and bright color shades. Twinning is common in sphene. Sphene can form nice crystals and can make a good addition to the collection of a collector who appreciates different crystal forms. It is found in the regions of Pakistan, Italy, Russia, Canada, New York and California.
