A 3.5 carat peridot — 3.85 ratti — at Rs. 9,380, about Rs. 2,680 per carat, delivered anywhere in Pakistan.

Telling a genuine peridot from what gets sold as one

Three checks, none of which needs a laboratory.

Doubling. Peridot has unusually strong double refraction. Look through the stone with a loupe and the back facet edges appear doubled, as if printed slightly out of register. Glass shows none of this. It is the single most useful test and it costs nothing.

Bubbles. Glass imitations contain spherical gas bubbles. Natural peridot does not — its inclusions are irregular crystals and fingerprint-like healed fractures, never perfect spheres.

Colour behaviour. Peridot keeps its colour under any light. It does not shift toward brown under tungsten the way some green glass and some treated quartz does, because its colour comes from iron built into the mineral structure rather than from a dye or a coating.

Zabarjad

The Urdu name is zabarjad, an old word that travelled with the stone itself — peridot has been mined and traded for well over three thousand years, and the Romans called it topazios after an island in the Red Sea that produced it. Some of the "emeralds" in European church treasuries have turned out, on modern examination, to be peridot.

This stone

Green covers 62% of the stone, with a warm, slightly golden cast. Facet share measures 2.6%, among the lowest here — a smooth polished dome rather than a sharply faceted stone.

Care

Peridot is 6.5 to 7 on the Mohs scale, fine for daily wear. Never an ultrasonic cleaner, never steam, and avoid sudden temperature changes and household acids.

Recorded as an Afghan stone. Treatment has not been tested on this piece, which we record rather than calling it untreated. Dimensions and clarity are not recorded yet; ask and we will measure.

This particular stone

This listing is one natural peridot, known in Urdu as Zabarjad, with a weight of 3.5 Carat. Its price is Rs. 9,380 — roughly Rs. 2,680 for each carat. Origin: Afghanistan. Treatment: treatment not tested. Quote reference GS-000341 when you message us about it. The photographs show this exact stone, so what arrives at your door is the piece you chose on screen.

Between two and six carats is the range most people choose for a gents' ring or a noticeable pendant. Here colour drives the price more than size does, which is why two stones of near-identical weight can be priced very differently.

On the Mohs scale peridot rates 6.5 to 7. That is middle-of-the-road hardness: comfortable in pendants and earrings, and in rings worn with some care. Store it apart from harder stones so it does not pick up scratches, and wipe it with a damp cloth rather than scrubbing.

Whoever you buy peridot from, make sure of three things: the stone is natural rather than lab-grown, glass or glass-filled; any treatment is stated in writing; and the weight quoted is the weight of the finished stone. We check every peridot for those three points before it is listed, a certificate is available on request, and because you pay on delivery you can look at the stone — or have it tested — before any money changes hands.

We sell natural stones only and inspect each one before it is listed. Treatment for this stone: Treatment not tested. Certificate available on request. As general background (not a statement about this stone): Peridot is usually untreated. Ask us on WhatsApp and we will tell you what we know about this exact stone; independent lab testing is available on request.

A certificate of authenticity is available on request for this stone, and independent laboratory testing can be arranged. Because you pay on delivery, you can also take the stone to a lab of your choice within the 7-day return window. Read more on our authenticity page.