The gem has a history of thousands of years. It was said to be the favorite of Cleopatra. Its wear dates back to many royal, biblical, and ancient times.

Peridot can be found throughout the world (and even in outer space)—it has been found in some meteorite material. The Xinjiang province of China is well-noted for producing some very fine colors of peridot. For the past few years, there has been a ban on mining peridot in China.Peridot is quite rare in large sizes.

An easy way for a novice to recognize peridot, is the fuzzy appearance of the gem. The back facets appear doubled when gazing through the face of the stone. This is caused because the light ray gets split into two (the techinical term is double refraction or birefringence). You can easily see this phenomenon- you’ll see the facets of the crown easily, but the facets of the pavilion will appear fuzzy and doubled.Another common identifying property is the natural inclusions that look like lily pads.

Peridot is the gem quality variety of forsteritic olivine. The chemical composition of peridot is (Mg, Fe)2SiO4, with Mg in greater quantities than Fe. The name of the gemstone is believed to come from either the Arabic word faridat meaning "gem" or the French word peritot meaning "unclear." Peridot is one of the few gemstones that comes in only one color. The depth of green depends on how much iron is contained in the crystal structure, and varies from yellow-green to olive to brownish green. Peridot is also often referred to as "poor man's emerald". Olivine is a very abundant mineral, but gem-quality peridot is rather rare. Peridot crystals have been collected from iron-nickel meteorites.

Occurrence
Olivine/peridot is a common mineral in mafic and ultramafic rocks, and is often found in lavas and in peridotite xenoliths of the mantle that lavas carry to the surface; however, gem-quality peridot only occurs in a fraction of these settings. Peridot/olivine is mined in North Carolina, Arizona, Hawaii, Nevada, and New Mexico, in the US; and in Australia, Brazil, China, Kenya, Mexico, Myanmar (Burma), Norway, Pakistan, South Africa, Sri Lanka, and Tanzania. Peridot/olivine of high quality is commercially mined in the eastern lava fields of Saudi Arabia. The largest cut peridot/olivine is a 310 carat (62 g) specimen in the Smithsonian Museum in Washington, D.C.. A special variety of a peridot/olivine from Pakistan is known as "Kashmir" peridot. Due to the large size of the rough stones found there, cutters have successfully created faceted stones of over 100 carats (20 g) from the rough gems of this area.

Peridot/olivine is the birthstone of August.

Metaphysical Properties
Peridot promotes protection, health, wealth, and sleep. Its green color lends itself to use in attracting wealth. Peridot is associated with the heart chakra, and can be used to balance and stimulate that chakra. It is a stone of compassion. It has a friendly energy and is excellent for healing. It assists in rebirth and renewal of all kinds. It enhances the healing and harmony of relationships of all kinds, but particularly marriage. Peridot can lessen stress within relationships, alleviate anger and jealousy, and slow aging. It also assists in finding what is lost, and strengthens ESP abilities.

Peridot’s Gemological Properties:
Chemical: Mg2SiO4, Fe2SiO4
Formation: igneous rocks
RI: 1.654 – 1.690
Birefringence: 0.036
Optic Character: Biaxial Positive
Specific Gravity: 3.30
Crystal System: Orthorhombic
MOHs Hardness: 7