I'm partial towards San Carlos, Arizona, peridot because it is a true American gem. If you haven't already read our pages on the San Carlos gemfield, click here. In spite of the fine peridot now coming out of Pakistan, San Carlos still produces the bulk of the world's supply of gem peridot. People who don't know any better complain about its color (It's true some is an unattractive dark olive green), but the better material from this location is as fine as that from Pakistan, China, or any other area. This specimen shows you how the San Carlos olivine occurs. The grey matrix is a vesicular basalt that surrounds nodules of shattered olivine. About one percent of these nodules contain fragments of gem grade peridot large enough to facet. This is one of those olivine nodules that the peridot "miners" are looking for. It contains a nice large gemmy granule of facet grade peridot. Specimens like this don't normally reach the mineral specimen market. (#97, priced at $25.00) Sold BACK