Zircon is so resilient that it can survive in soil, rocks and sediments for billions of years, the entire lifespan of our planet. The mineral zircon is present throughout the world in such abundance that it could be thought of as ubiquitous and is so small that it is barely noticed. It was renamed Zircon in 1783 by Abraham Werner. Zircon's name comes from the Arabic 'Zarqun' meaning red or the 'similar sounding Persian word 'Zargun' meaning golden and it is found across the world with east Africa and south east Asia producing some of the finest examples. This is a shame because the zircon crystals make a beautiful gem covering an array of colors from golden yellows to deep reds, greens and blues and even black. Zircon's image has suffered over the years first by its use in its clear form as a cheaper substitute for diamonds and then more recently by getting confused with the man-made diamond substitute, cubic zirconium. Named hyacinth or jacinth in the bible, a variety of zircon was one of the 12 stones of Israel mentioned in the bible and a legendary tree ripe with zircon gems is mentioned in traditional Hindu poem. A piece of zircon found in Australia in 2014 has been dated back nearly 4.5 billion years making it virtually as old as the planet itself. Zircon is an historic crystal both in terms of man and the earth itself.
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