Your guide to Jasper gems

Jasper

Jasper is loved by much beautiful patterned appearance. It is an opaque variety of the mineral Quartz, though there are frequently other minerals present.

Jasper comes in many colours, notably shades of red, brown and yellow. When these are arranged into patterns the stone is given a name such as striped or banded jasper. These patterns are formed by sediment flow during the rocks formation. The most popular pattern is landscape jasper which as the name would suggest appears as a small scene within the rock. This vegetative pattern is formed when the jasper is permeated by other minerals.

Jasper has many uses, in jewellery and sculpture, perhaps most notably on the saint Wenceslas chapel in Prague.

Though jasper does not represent anything in the western world, in the Chinese zodiac, the year of the rooster has jasper as its gemstone.