Atlantisite is a trade name for a rock, not one stone: green serpentine from Tasmania with purple stichtite through it. It is soft, and we do not carry it.
Rock (serpentine with stichtite)
Atlantisite
Atlantisita
- Palette
- Green Purple
- Mined in
- Australia
- Hardness
- Mohs 1.5–4.0 ?
- See-through
- opaque
- Known since
- 1910
- Named for
- the legendary lost city of Atlantis
- Also sold as
- stichtite in serpentine, stichtite-serpentine, sometimes sold as tasmanite (a different material)
- Intention
- Protection Calm
- Looking for
- Protection Peace Joy
- Water
- Keep it dry; wipe with a soft cloth
- Dye or finish
- Atlantisite is usually sold natural. Stabilizing is occasionally done to cabochon material but is uncommon in beads, so ask the seller if it matters.
Not in our pieces now
1.5 TO 2
Stichtite, the purple streaking in atlantisite, rates just 1.5 to 2 on the Mohs scale, so these beads are soft and need gentle wear.
1965
In 1965 the California Legislature named serpentine, the green base of atlantisite, the state's official rock.
TANGIWAI
New Zealand's Maori name for serpentine is tangiwai, which means tears.
What it is
Atlantisite is a trade name for a rock from Tasmania: soft green to yellow-green serpentine with patches and speckles of lilac to purple stichtite. It is a two-mineral rock, not a single stone, and it is sold as cabochons, beads and polished slabs.
What gives it its color
Atlantisite is green serpentine with purple to pink patches of stichtite, a chromium-bearing mineral that forms when the dark ore mineral chromite breaks down inside the serpentine.
Where it comes from
Atlantisite comes from the Dundas area (Stichtite Hill) of western Tasmania, Australia.
In history
Atlantisite is a trade name for green serpentine streaked with purple stichtite. Stichtite was found in 1910 on the west coast of Tasmania by A. S. Wesley, a chemist with the Mount Lyell copper company, and named for the mine's manager, Robert Sticht. Specimens are shown at the West Coast Pioneers Museum in Zeehan.
What's said about it
In crystal lore it is a garden stone. People set it by a favorite plant, in a houseplant pot or in a miniature fairy garden, to invite nature spirits.
Serpentine itself has older lore. Italian peasants once held that green serpentine pebbles guarded the wearer against venomous bites.
It is best kept as a pendant, earrings or a stone for the garden or a shelf.
How people wear or keep it: In a garden or potted plant, in a fairy garden, as a pendant or earrings, or on a shelf.
In crystal practice
In the crystal tradition, atlantisite is paired with the heart and third eye and crown 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 garden or potted plant, in a fairy garden, as a pendant or earrings. People reach for it when they want protection, peace, joy, and many set an intention when they put it on. 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.
ChakraHeart, Third Eye, Crown
ZodiacLibra, Virgo
ElementEarth
Also calledstichtite in serpentine, stichtite-serpentine, sometimes sold as tasmanite (a different material)
Care
- Soft: stichtite is only about 1.5 to 2 and the serpentine host is also soft, so scratches and chips come easily.
- Wipe with a soft dry or barely damp cloth; skip soap, soaking and ultrasonic cleaners.
- Keep it away from perfume, sweat and household chemicals.
- Store wrapped on its own, away from harder stones.
- Best as a pendant, earrings or a display piece, not a bracelet.
How to tell what you have
- Sold as atlantisite, a bead may be a rock of purple stichtite and green serpentine, and the swirl pattern differs from strand to strand.
- Beads that are one flat purple or one flat green, or that show color pooled at the drill hole, may be dyed serpentine or another material. Stichtite is very soft (1.5 to 2) with a waxy rather than glassy polish.
What sets the price
Atlantisite is green serpentine veined with lilac to purple stichtite, so price follows how rich the purple is, how it contrasts with the green, and bead size and polish. Both minerals are soft, which limits how it is cut.
Rules and sourcing
Atlantisite is serpentine rock, a group that includes chrysotile, an asbestos mineral under US law, though the platy serpentine usually cut into beads is not fibrous. Finished beads are fine to wear, but do not grind, sand, drill or cut them without dust protection.
Questions people ask at our table
What is atlantisite?
It is a trade name for a rock: serpentine, which is green, with patches of purple stichtite. Both minerals come from Tasmania, Australia. The name 'atlantisite' is a marketing name, not a mineral name.
Is it the same as stichtite?
Stichtite is the purple mineral. Atlantisite is the rock that contains it, so the green host is part of what you see.
Is atlantisite tasmanite?
Sellers sometimes use both names for it, but tasmanite is also the name of a different material from the same region, so check what the seller means.
Can I wear it?
It is soft, so it suits earrings or pendants. Avoid water and hard knocks.
Do you carry it?
We do not. If you like the green, we carry green jade and olive jade, and lepidolite for the purple.
Not in our pieces right now
Stones we do carry that are close to it are listed under related stones.
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