This gemstone is the youngest member of the spodumen family, to which the green or yellowish-green hiddenite, discovered about a quarter of a century earlier, also belongs. Hiddenite too bears the name of its discoverer, W. E. Hidden. Those who are interested in gemmology will know that, together with diopside, jadeite and three other kinds of mineral, the spodumens make up the pyroxene group, the word pyroxene being derived from the Greek words pyr (fire) and xenos (stranger). Pale pink kunzite was discovered in 1902 in the Pala District of San Diego County in California. Today, the prism-shaped crystals with their typical vertical striations are mainly found in Afghanistan, Madagascar, Brazil and the USA. The crystals, or fragments of crystals, often badly eaten away, can attain sizes of up to several kilogrammes.
