Some Worship Hardness, But I Am One of Jewelry’s True Delicate Beauties

THERE ARE THE hard boys like diamond and sapphire who aren’t afraid of going edge to edge with a gemcutter’s saw … and then there are stones like me, who shake and invariably shatter when confronted with that awful, awful violence. It’s why I am much more at home at the ear, away from the potential day-to-day hazards of the wrist and fingers. There, dangling free or studded in the safe surrounds of a soft lobe, I can show off my range of cyan-ese beauty. It’s also why I am used quite rarely in jewelry — few designers want to work with my delicate demeanor.

Who am I?