Weight (Specific Gravity): Light – ~2.60-2.65. It feels similar in heft to quartz.
Treatment: Albite itself is not treated. However, its gem varieties are:
Moonstone: Sometimes impregnated with oil or resin to mask fractures.
Imitation Moonstone: Glass or synthetic spinel may be used to imitate albite’s adularescence.
Pure faceted albite is not enhanced.
Body (Clarity/Transparency): Gem-quality albite can be transparent to translucent. When transparent and clean, it is faceted into colorless or pale yellow stones. Its defining feature is its perfect cleavage in two directions, making cutting difficult. It has a vitreous luster and is brittle. Most gem interest is in its phenomenal varieties: the schiller (adularescence) of moonstone or the labradorescence of related plagioclase.
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