The word Jasper means, “stained or speckled stone”, it comes from the Greek word iaspisand latin iaspidem. Jasper is one of the oldest known gemstones and was very popular in ancient times. It has been written about him in Greek, Hebrew, Assyrian, Persian, and Latin engravings, as well as in the Bible. But in those ancient times, what was called jasper was a totally different stone from what we call jasper today; it was referring only to the transparent green varieties. Jasper is one of the birthstones of the Virgo sun sign and the mystical birthstone for the month of October. There are many varieties and names of jasper; They refer to their patterns or their places of origin.

Jasper is a fine-grained, opaque variety of chalcedony. Some scientists place it in a group by itself within the quartz group due to its grainy structure. It contains eighty percent chalcedony and twenty percent opal, quartz, and rare minerals. Solid colored jasper is very rare; most jasper is opaque and can show many different color patterns. The foreign minerals it contains shape its colors, streaks, stains, and appearance. There are more than fifty varieties of jasper, but the most prized jasper gemstones have a combination of red and green patterns. Jasper colors include: red, brown, pink, yellow, green, gray / white, and shades of blue and purple. It has a dull sheen, but when polished it develops a pleasant shine. Jasper is at 6.5 – 7 on the Mohs scale.

Jasper is typically found in veins and crevices in volcanic rocks, often along with chalcedony and agate. Jasper veins occasionally occur in igneous rocks, for example, in granite. All jaspers are formed in a minimum of two steps. The tiny particles settle first in layers, then the layers are bonded with a solution of liquid silica. Jasper can go through many more steps in his training. Many jaspers are named after the region where they are found or because of their color patterns. Some names include: Picture, Red, Kambaba, Landscape, Biggs, Frog Skin, Zebra, Mookite, Brecciated Mookiate, Brecciated, Picasso, Artistic, Exotica, Succor, Wilow Creek, Dalmation, Cobra, Ghost’s Eye, Dallasite, Dendritic, Stone Canyon , Feather, Bamboo, Lizard Skin, Polychrome, Desert, Ocean, Orbical, Poppy, Montana Bark, Snake Skin, Owyhee, Fantasy, Spiderman, Starburst, Leopard Skin, Jungle or Rhyolite, Morgan Hill Poppy, Burro Jasper.

Jasper is used in the manufacture of all kinds of decorative objects and jewelry. It is a beautiful gemstone that many people like to collect. This is due to the different color patterns it can have.