Bixbite - chapter 2 from Rocks and Stones around the World

Bixbite was named after mineralogist Maynard Bixby, who discovered this stone in Utah.  To this day, bixbite can be only found in the Wah-Wah Mountains in Utah and a few more locations in the United States of America, and nowhere else (Figure on the left, second from top).  It is an all-American stone, and one of the ten rarest gemstones.  Nowadays it is called more often red beryl or “red emerald”.  As you have guessed, its color is predominantly red, although it can be also orange (Figure on the left, third from top).  The lustre is vitreous and its hardness is 7.5 to 8.0 on the Mohs scale.  It is almost as hard as diamond, but not quite.

            Bixbite is so rare that only one bixbite is found for every 150,000 diamonds.  Because it is so rare, people try to make fake bixbites, and the jewelers have to be careful that they only buy a real bixbite.  All of the world’s gemstone quality bixbites come from only one place, the Ruby-Violet Mine in the Wah-Wah Mountains, Utah (Figure on the left, bottom).  Because of that, bixbite jewels, although beautiful, are very rare.
Click on the image to buy the book!