Hiddenite is an attractive and rare gemstone. It has an unusual green color that is unlike either Peridot or Emerald. Hiddenite was discovered in 1800 in Hiddenite, a city in Alexander County, North Carolina, USA. Both the city and the gem mineral were named after William Earl Hidden, a mineralogist and mining director from Newark, New Jersey who was mining in the area.



Hiddenite is actually one of the two varieties of Spodumene. The other is Kunzite, typically a pink to lilac variety, but Yellow Kunzite is a trade name used to describe yellow Spodumene. While all varieties of Spodumene are scarce, Hiddenite is the rarer of the two, with Kunzite better known by most gemstone collectors.

The green color of Hiddenite ranges from a yellowish to a bluish green. Hiddenite is strongly pleochroic meaning that it can change color when viewed from different angles, thus a gem cutter must take great care to orient the gem in a position that accentuates its deepest color. The top and bottom of the crystal reveal the deepest colors and knowledgeable gem cutters take advantage of this effect to produce the finest quality Hiddenite.

Hiddenite is formed from lithium aluminum silicate. The crystals are vitreous and can be either transparent or translucent. For many years, the occurrence of Hiddenite was limited to North Carolina, however new deposits were recently discovered in Madagascar and Brazil.

Typing Hiddenite into an internet search engine will provide hundreds of results about the city of Hiddenite in North Carolina, USA. As you start to discover the lifestyle of this historic city, you can’t help but become attached to this wonderful gem.

While Hiddenite is prized both as a collectors gem and as a jewelry gemstone, because it’s so scarce, if you fall in love with Hiddenite, when you see it you better – Snatch It!