SABALITE :

Synonym for trainite .

SACCHARITE :

Mixture of feldspath and other minerals .

SACHSISCHE DIAMANT :

German Prohibited Appellation for a rock crystal from Saxony .

SACHARITE :

Variety of white impure nephrite from Siberia .

SACRED TURQUOISE :

Prohibited Appellation for a pale blue smithsonite .

SAFFRONITE :

Term that has had no much (or very little) usage and that had been recommended in 1933 by the B.I.B.O.A. to designate a citrine or an heated amethyst , to avoid the incorrect usage of the name topaz for quartz stones .

SAFIRANA :

Prohibited Appellation for a synthetic blue spinel or for a quartz

SAFRANITE :

Synonym used for citrine .

SAFRONITE :

See saffronite .

SAGATHAI :

Burmese Term for designating rubies of half a carat .

SAGENITE :

Etym. : from the Greek: sagene = net or also the word could come from  American explorer Walter Sagen .

Variety of rutilated quartz of which the needles are crossing at 54° and 65°, forming a netlike

structure ; equally synonym for Venus hair .

Some use it also for any quartz with inclusions of rutile, tourmaline, goethite, etc...

SAINT STEPHEN'S STONE :

Chalcedony whitish or greyish, translucent, having small red dots .

SAKAL :

Egyptian Term for amber .

SALAMANCA TOPAZ :

Prohibited Appellation for a citrine from Cordoba ( and not from Salamanca ), Spain .

SALAM STEIN :

German. Synonym for sapphire; See Salam-Stone .

SALAM STONE :

English Term used in the Orient for a sapphire, generally a sapphire from Sri Lanka of blue or pale red colour .

SALIS GEM :

Name given to a moonstone .

SALITE :

Variety of diopside containing up to 20% of FeO, coming from Sele (Sweden).

colour : dark green

SAMARSKITE :

Columbate and tantalate of U with Fe ; orthorhombic

Colour : velvety black

Transparency : opaque

Hardness : 5 to 6

Density : 5.6 to 5.8

SAMOTSVET :

Ancient Russian term to designate a stone of natural colour .

SANDALWOOD JADE :

English Term used in China for a variety of jade .

SANDASTROS :

Synonym for aventurine quartz .

SAN DOMINGO AMBER :

Prohibited appellation for a fossil resin from San Domingo

It is a variety of yellow to brownish transparent retinite .

Fluorescence : whitish blue 

SANG-l-YESHAN :

Bowenite from the North-West of China .

SANGUINARIA :

Spanish Name designating either hematite, or heliotrope .

SANGUINE :

Synonym for hematite .

SANIDINE :

Variety of Orthose (orthoclase) belonging to the group of the feldspaths

KAlSi₃O₈

Physical and optical properties :

Colour : colourless or brownish, light brown, yellowish

Transparency : transparent to translucent

Lustre : vitreous

SAPHIR CHRYSOLITE :

French term.  Prohibited Appellation for a sapphire of yellow-greenish to yellow green colour .

SAPPHIRE :

Etym. From the Sanskrit: - seniprija, lover of Saturnus

               - the Greek word sappheiros : designated in antiquity and until the early Middle Ages

                 the lapis lazuli

               - the Hebrew: sappir = very beautiful object

Variety of blue corundum in  different tones .

Designates equally the other corundums - colourless, pink, yellow, orange, green, violet – with the addition of the colour , so : colourless sapphire, pink sapphire , etc. When using sapphire without adjective of colour for a stone, it always designates a blue sapphire.

(ALMANDINE) SAPPHIRE :

Prohibited Appellation for a violet reddish sapphire .

(AMETHYSTE) SAPPHIRE :

Prohibited Appellation for a violet sapphire, also called oriental amethyst in the old days.

(ASTERIATED) SAPPHIRE :

Synonym for star sapphire .

(BRAZILIAN) SAPPHIRE :

Prohibited Appellation for a light blue or greenish topaz , or equally for a blue tourmaline .

(CAT’S EYE) SAPPHIRE :

Sapphire showing a luminous chatoyant line when the stone is cut as a cabochon .

(FRENCH )SAPPHIRE :

Prohibited Appellation for a blue Quartz .

(GIRASOL) SAPPHIRE :

Variety of sapphire showing a broad luminous un-sharp line .

(GOLDEN) SAPPHIRE :

Yellow to yellow greenish sapphire .

(LUX) SAPPHIRE :

Prohibited Appellation for a cordierite .

(LYNX) SAPPHIRE :

Prohibited Appellation for a dark blue cordierite  .
Term equally employed for designating a dark blue sapphire from Sri Lanka ( Smith) or a very pale blue sapphire with girasol effect ( Schlossmacher )

(ORIENTAL) SAPPHIRE :

Very old Term sometimes used to designate a true sapphire .

(STAR) SAPPHIRE :

Sapphire showing a moving star with six and sometimes twelve rays caused by the reflection of the light on inclusions of rutile, when the stone is cut as a cabochon.

(WATER) SAPPHIRE :

Prohibited Appellation for a cordierite .

(WHITE) SAPPHIRE :

Commercial Appellation for an artificial stone, imitation for a brilliant cut diamond ; generally it is a synthetic colourless spinel, or a synthetic colourless corundum

designates equally a natural colourless to bluish sapphire, equally called leuco-sapphire

SAPPHIRE ALEXANDRITE :

Sapphire that is blue in daylight, changing to violet, purplish or reddish under incandescent light.

SAPPHIRE QUARTZ :

Prohibited Appellation for a blue Quartz .

SAPPHIRE SPINEL :

Prohibited Appellation for a blue spinel. See candite .

SAPPHIRINE :

Aluminosilicate of Magnesium ..

2SiO₂.6A1₂0₃.5MgO 

Physical and optical properties :

Colour : blue light to blue dark, blue-grey to green

Lustre : vitreous

Transparency : transparent to translucent

Hardness : 7.5

Density : 3.42 to 3.48

R.I. : 1.716 – 1.723

Birefringence : 0.007

System : monoclinic

Or a Prohibited Appellation for a blue spinel, or for a variety of blue chalcedony or for a glass coloured blue by cobalt

SAPONITE :

Belongs to the group of Meerschaum (sepiolite), hydrated silicate of Mg .

(Mg,Al,Fe)₃(Al,Si)₄O₁₀(OH)₂

Physical and optical properties :

Colour : white, grey, yellowish, reddish, brown, greenish

Transparency : opaque

Lustre : greasy

Hardness : 1 to 2

Density : 2.2 to 2.3

R.I. : 1.48 to 1.52

System : monoclinic

Name equally given to a variety of serpentine from Cornouailles (France), or used as synonym for soapstone, or steatite .

SAPPARE :

Variety of translucent disthene .

SAPPHIROS :

Name given in antiquity and Middle Ages to lapis-lazuli, sometimes to azurite, and probably to many dark opaque blue stones .

SARDACHATE :

German Synonym for sardonyx

SARD AGATE :

English Synonym for sardonyx .

SARDER :

Etym. d'après la capitale Sardes for Lydie synonym for sardonyx .

SARDIUM :

Name given to a sardonyx , artificially coloured .

SARDONYX :

Variety of agate of brown or red colour in different tones, or red and black, or red and white

SARKSTONE :

English Name, variety of amethyst from Ireland .

SATELITE :

Commercial name for a variety of fibrous serpentine from Tulare County, California, having a slight grey to grey blue chatoyant effect .

SAUALPITE :

Synonym for zoisite .

SAULPITITE :

Synonym for zoisite .

SAUSSURITE :

Etym. Named after the French alpinist and explorer ‘de Saussure’ who discovered it on the slopes of the Mont Blanc, Alps, France .

It is an alteration of feldspath with a lamellar structure, almost totally composed of zoisite

Colour : green blackish or greenish grey to white, asparagus green

Hardness : 6.5

Density : 3.2 to 3.3

R.I. : average : 1.70

SCAPOLITE :

Ethym. From the Latin : Scapus = rod; and lithos = stone

Variety of Wernerite, complex silicate of Al and Na ( marialite) or of Al and Ca ( meionite)

Isomorphous mixture of Na₈[(Cl₂, SO₄,CO₃)ú AlSi₃O₈)₆] and Ca₈[(Cl₂, SO₄,CO₃)ú AlSi₃O₈)₆]

Physical and optical properties :

Colour : straw-yellow to golden-yellow, blue, white, pink or violet, colourless

Transparency : transparent to translucent

Lustre : vitreous

Hardness : 5.5 to 6.5

Properties very variable : depending on the colour :

- colourless : Density : 2.64 to 2.66

       R.I. : 1.540 – 1.554 (±0.001)

       Birefringence : 0.014

- white : Density : 2.64 to 2.66

       R.I. : 1.550 – 1.570 (±0.002)

       Birefringence : 0.020 to 0.022

- yellow : Density : 2.60 to 2.70

       R.I. : 1.540 – 1.554 up to 1.553 – 1.579

       Birefringence : 0.014 to 0.26

- pink : Density : 2.60 to 2.74

      R.I. : 1.540 – 1.549 up to 1.550 – 1.572

      Birefringence : 0.009 to 0.022

- violet : Density : 2.60 to 2.71

       R.I. : 1.544 (+0.003 –0.004) – 1.560 (+0.002 –0.010)

           Ou 1.532 (+0.004 – 0.002) – 1.539 (+0.002)

       Birefringence : 0.007 (0.010 to 0.016)

           Or 0.007 (0.004 to 0.010)

Uniaxial negative

Dichroism : strong, medium or weak

System : tetragonal

SCHAUMBERG DIAMOND :

Prohibited appellation for a rock crystal found at Schaumberg in Germany.

SCHAUMSPATH :

German term. Variety of nacreous calcite .

SCHEELITE :

CaW0₄

Physical and optical properties :

Colour : blue-yellowish to brownish, yellow-brownish or orange-yellow

Transparency : transparent to translucent

Lustre : adamantine or vitreous

Hardness : 4.5 to 5.5

Density : 5.9 to 6.1

R.I. : 1.918 – 1.937 (±)

Birefringence : 0.010 to 0.018

Dispersion : 0.028 (-0.002)

System : tetragonal

SCHNALLENSTEIN :

German Synonym for topaz .

SCHNECKEN or SCHNECKENSTEIN TOPAZ:

German Name. It is a gem quality topaz; this term should not be used for a citrine .

SCHNEEBERGITE :

Variety of Topazolite without aluminium .

SCHNIDE :

English Name for a common bluish opal from Queensland .

SCHORL :

Variety of black tourmaline .

SCHORLITE of HUNT :

Variety of tourmaline, synonym for Schorl .

SCHORLITE of KLAPROTH :

Synonym for topaz .

SCHORLOMITE :

Variety for melanite containing Titanium .

(RED) SCHORL :

Prohibited Appellation for a rutile .

SCHUCHARDITE :

Synonym for Chrysoprase–earth.

SCHUTZITE :

Synonym for Celisine .

SCHWEFELKIES :

German Name for pyrite .

SCHWEFELDIAMANT :

German Prohibited Appellation for pyrite .

SCHWEITZERITE :

Variety of serpentine from Zermatt, composed for the major part of chrysotile .

SCIENTIFIC BRILLIANT :

Prohibited appellation for a colourless artificial sapphire .

SCOOP STONE :

English Name given to amber from the Baltic Sea .

SCORZA :

Variety of epidote .

SCOTCH PEBBLE :

Name given in England to all varieties of Quartz specially the Cairngorm .

SCOTINE :

Synonym for allanite .

SCOULERITE :

Variety of Thomsonite .

SEAM OPAL :

English name.  Common banded Opal , noble white opal from White Cliffs, N.S.W. Australia

SEASTONE :

An English term for amber .

SEIFENSTEIN :

German Synonym for saponite or steatite .

SELENITA :

Spanish Name for Moonstone .

SELENITE :

Synonym for colourless crystallised gypsum .

SEMELINE :

Variety of sphene or titanite of green colour .

SEMICARNELIAN :

Old English name for a yellow carnelian .

SEMI-OPAL :

Variety of common translucent opal, synonym for hydrophane,

or common opal in general .

SEPIOLITE :

Synonym for meerschaum .

SERENDIBITE :

(Fe,Ca,Mg)₅. Al₅B. Si₃O₂₀ 

Colour : blue

Transparency : transparent

Hardness : 7

Density : 3.42

R.I. 1,701 - 1,706

Birefringence : 0.005

System : triclinic

SERICITE :

Variety of pale green muscovite or synonym for pagodite .

SERPENTINE :

Etym. From the Latin: serpens = snake, for resembling the almost similar design on the stone

Mineral with variable appearance, chemical composition and properties, the 2 types used as gemstones are the apple-green bowenite (with irregular small spots) and the bright green williamsite (with irregular black inclusions)

The word serpentine is used in three meanings :

1° as a name for a group, comprising among others antigorite (leafy serpentine) and chrysotile (fibrous serpentine with asbestos being the name for the very finely fibrous variety) and perhaps others

2° to designate one of its varieties like antigorite, chrysotile, bowenite, williamsite,

     the others becoming separate species

3° or to designate various green rocks ( mainly composed of serpentine mixed with marbles such as Connemara and verd-antique  )

3(Mg,Fe)O.2SiO₂.2H₂O

Physical and optical properties :

Colour : greenish, brownish, leek green, yellow-green, with sometimes inclusions of pyrite, often

             veined

Transparency : translucent to opaque

Hardness : 2.5 to 4 ( rarely 6 )

Density : 2.2 to 2.8

R.I. : average : 1.49 to 1.57

System : monoclinic

SERPENTINE JADE :

Prohibited Appellation for a bowenite .

SERPENT’S EYE :

Used as Synonym for odontolite .

SERRA POINTS :

Name given to those crystals of amethyst detached from a geode ( in South Brazil) .

SERRA STONE :

Name given to an agate from Serra do Mar in the state of Rio Grande do Sul (Brazil) .