Adamite is a zinc arsenate, so it contains arsenic. Do not handle it as a bead, never cut or sand it, keep its dust away from your face, and wash your hands after touching it.
Arsenate
Adamite
Adamita
- Palette
- Yellow Green
- Mined in
- Mexico, Chile, Greece, United States
- Hardness
- Mohs 3.5 ?
- See-through
- transparent
- Known since
- 1866
- Named for
- Gilbert-Joseph Adam, a French mineralogist
- Also sold as
- cuprian adamite (copper-bearing, green), zinc arsenate
- Intention
- New Beginnings
- Water
- Keep it dry; wipe with a soft cloth
- Dye or finish
- Adamite is a collector's mineral sold as natural specimens. We found no record of it being dyed, heated or coated.
Not in our pieces now
117 MINERALS
The Ojuela Mine at Mapimi, Mexico has yielded 117 mineral species, and its adamite is the standard other collectors' specimens are judged against.
LEMON-YELLOW GLOW
Adamite can fluoresce lemon-yellow under ultraviolet light and keep glowing briefly after the lamp is switched off.
ROEBLING
The suspension bridge built over the Ojuela Mine in 1898 was designed by the Roebling family's firm, the same designers behind the Brooklyn Bridge.
What it is
Adamite is a zinc arsenate that forms small glassy crystals and crusts, usually honey to lemon yellow and sometimes green. It glows lemon yellow under ultraviolet light, which is why collectors like it. It contains arsenic, so it is a display mineral and not a bead.
What gives it its color
Pure adamite has no color; its yellow comes from iron mixed into the crystal, and a little copper turns it green or blue (cobalt gives pink to purple).
Where it comes from
The finest adamite comes from the Ojuela Mine at Mapimi, Durango, Mexico, with other sources at Lavrion in Greece, Chile and Gold Hill, Utah.
In history
Adamite was first described in 1866 from the Chañarcillo mines in Chile, the district where Juan Godoy found silver in 1832 and set off a Chilean silver rush. Large adamite crystals came out of those same workings.
What's said about it
It is a collector's mineral, loved for small yellow-green crystals that glow lemon yellow under ultraviolet light. The books we checked have no lore for it.
It is named for a French mineralogist and was first described in 1866. People keep it in a closed case on a shelf.
How people wear or keep it: In a closed display case, or on a shelf.
In crystal practice
In the crystal tradition, adamite is paired with the solar plexus and heart and throat chakras, so practitioners rest it there during meditation or lie down with it in place for a few quiet minutes. Day to day, the same tradition suggests keeping it close: in a closed display case, on a shelf. Most practitioners cleanse a new stone first (running water only if the stone can take it, otherwise smoke or moonlight) and set it aside now and then to rest.
These are beliefs people have held and still hold about the stone, reported as such. Nothing here is a promise or a medical claim. We sell stones as jewelry, not for these effects.
Associations
The chakra and star sign this stone is usually matched with. These are popular traditions, not facts about the stone.
ChakraSolar Plexus, Heart, Throat
ZodiacCancer
ElementFire
Also calledcuprian adamite (copper-bearing, green), zinc arsenate
Care
- Do not handle it as a bead or wear it against skin: it contains arsenic.
- Never cut, sand or grind it, and keep dust away from your face.
- Wash your hands after touching a specimen, and keep it away from food, children and pets.
- Soft and brittle: display it in a closed case and dust it with a dry brush, not with water.
How to tell what you have
- Handling: adamite is a zinc arsenate, so it contains arsenic. Do not wear it, cut it or sand it, wash your hands after touching it, and keep it away from food, children and pets.
- Real adamite is soft (3.5), brittle, honey to lemon yellow or green, and glows lemon yellow under ultraviolet light. Copper arsenates such as olivenite share its structure and can look similar.
What sets the price
Adamite is a collector's mineral, so price follows how well formed and clean the crystals are, the color (yellow, green or violet from trace metals), how strongly it glows under UV light, and the locality. It is too soft to be cut often, so pieces sold are mostly natural specimens.
Questions people ask at our table
What is adamite?
A zinc arsenate mineral that forms small yellow to green crystals and crusts. It glows lemon yellow under ultraviolet light, and it is mostly kept as a collector's specimen.
Is adamite safe to wear?
We would not use it as a bead. It contains arsenic, and the hazard is dust, so never cut, sand or grind it, and wash your hands after handling a specimen.
Where does it come from?
Mexico is the best-known source, from the Mapimi area of Durango. It is also found in Greece, in California and Utah, and in Chile, its type locality.
Why does it glow?
Adamite fluoresces lemon yellow under ultraviolet light. The glow is a property of the mineral, not something added to it.
Do you carry adamite?
No, we do not carry it and do not plan to. Lemon jasper and green aventurine give a similar yellow-green color, safely, in our pieces.
Not in our pieces right now
Stones we do carry that are close to it are listed under related stones.
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