Chrome Diopside Gemstone: Properties, Meanings, Value & More

Chrome diopside is a translucent, deep green gemstone variety of the pyroxene mineral diopside. Most raw chrome diopside crystals are almost exclusively sourced from the snowy abyss of Siberia, in Northern Russia.

Imagine the luscious green of a peacock feather or the soft, muted green of a mossy rock. Chrome diopside properties channel all of Mother Nature’s graceful green tones, making it an excellent stone for grounding and higher learning. 

Such a wonderful green hue might remind you of chrome tourmaline. Is chrome diopside the same as chrome tourmaline? Chrome diopside might share the rare Tanzanian tourmaline’s color, but it’s much softer in hardness. 

Is chrome diopside the only way to refer to this stone? No. In fact, there are a couple of Russian chrome diopside new names.  So, what is the other name for chrome diopside? 

Its elegant green color and near transparency make it an affordable tsavorite or emerald alternative, giving it the nickname “Russian (or Siberian) emerald.” Other names include “Imperial Diopside,” “Vertalit,” and “Serbelit.”

At Gem Rock Auctions, we’re proud to offer the highest-quality selection of gems with enough variety to meet any budget. Our chrome diopside for sale is a lovely choice for the gem-lover craving emerald’s strength and brilliance without its price tag. 

Ready to learn all about chrome diopside’s meaning and healing properties? Join us as we travel through chrome diopside’s history, uses, mineral characteristics, and more! 

Let’s start with a few key facts about chrome diopside. 

About Chrome Diopside Stone

First of all, what is chrome diopside? Chrome diopside is the well-known, green gemstone variety of diopside. Diopside is a dull-green mineral with prismatic crystals. 

Wait, what is the difference between chrome diopside and diopside? Chrome diopside contains high levels of chromium, which causes its desirable green shades — including emerald-green! 

You know that chrome diopside is less expensive than emerald, but is Russian chrome diopside valuable in today’s market? As a semi-precious gemstone, chrome diopside has relative value, but we’ll touch upon value later. 

Those with the zodiac sign Cancer benefit from chrome diopside as their zodiac stone! The stone’s sea-green color offers the emotional crab tranquility and protection amidst self-doubt or anxiety. You can also substitute chrome diopside for emerald as a 20th and 35th wedding anniversary stone, bringing good fortune and youth to your soul bond!

On a metaphysical level, you can substitute chrome diopside for emerald in many respects, including as a star stone for Mercury — making it a lucky charm for Mercury-ruled Gemini and Cancer!

Next up, let’s dive into the nitty-gritty of chrome diopside properties and mineral characteristics. 

Chrome Diopside Specifications & Characteristics

Diopside is a pyroxene mineral in yellow, brown, green, and purple. The green varieties get their color from chromium, hence the name chrome diopside. But is chrome diopside a crystal? Absolutely! 

Chrome diopside has a somewhat weak hardness and toughness, forming brittle stones that rank a 5-6 on the Mohs mineral hardness scale.

Here are some more specific characteristics of chrome diopside:

• Mineral family: Pyroxene mineral

• Composition: Magnesium, calcium silicate, chromium, oxygen

• Mohs hardness: 5-6

• Color: Light green to deep green

• Crystal structure: Monoclinic

• Luster: Vitreous and glassy

• Transparency: Translucent to transparent

• Refractive index: 1.66-1.70

• Density: 3.25-2.55

• Cleavage: Two distinct directions; imperfect

• Fracture: Irregular; conchoidal

• Streak: White to light green

• Luminescence: Various shades of green

• Pleochroism: Moderate

Chrome Diopside Meaning & History

The chrome diopside meaning is easily derived from the Greek words dio for “two” and opse for “vision” or “faces.” The stone’s cleavage is imperfect but has two distinct directions (faces).

On a spiritual level, though, two faces might explain why ancient peoples saw the stone as one of clarity and visualization, often placing it in coffins with the deceased to promote renewal in the afterlife! 

Chrome diopside’s powerful symbolism is also linked to the Tree of Life, which represents divine, unconditional love in Christian teachings. The symbol is quite popular in many forms of mythology, including from Ancient Urartu (Armenia), Assyria, Mesopotamia, and even Norse mythology. 

Despite the recently discovered ancient associations of chrome diopside, the stone wasn’t actually discovered until 1988 in Siberia. Its most important mining location remains the Ingali region of Russian Siberia to this day.

However, Brazilian naturalist Jose Bonifacio de Andrada e Silva discovered the mother mineral diopside in the early 1800s. 

Now, what are some physical and emotional chrome diopside crystal benefits?

Chrome Diopside Healing Properties

Some crystal healers might rely exclusively on emeralds for improved inner clarity and higher truths. But they’d be wrong to overlook chrome diopside as a healing stone! Joining other green gemstones, chrome diopside symbolizes the growth, renewal, and abundance of nature. 

General healing uses include soothing stubbornness, improving mental clarity, and enhancing connection to one's self.

First, what does the diopside crystal do on a physical level?

Physical Healing

Are you feeling a little cloudy lately? Is brain fog interrupting your flow? You might benefit from keeping chrome diopside nearby. 

A stone of clarity, chrome diopside is known to relieve headaches and brain fog, offering stillness to help you figure out what you want in life and see a clear path to get there. It’s also known to help stabilize your blood pressure. 

Another amazing chrome diopside benefit is its purported support with addiction. When you lean on a destructive substance, it might feel like the world is too cruel to manage on your own. Chrome diopside helps you find support, even when you feel like giving up. 

On that note, what are the chrome diopside crystal properties that support us emotionally?

Emotional Healing

Do you find yourself argumentative for no justifiable reason? Maybe pride or fear stops you from opening your mind to new solutions or ideas. Now, that could be a sign of a blocked chakra (more on that next). But on an emotional level, chrome diopside helps ease stubborn tendencies and open up emotional guards to be vulnerable. 

Moreover, its reputed benefits for mental clarity promote a desire to learn, helping you embrace curiosity to discover more about yourself and the world around you. Chrome diopside also might help soothe feelings of depression and reawaken your self-confidence. 

Diving deeper into our emotional health, what is chrome diopside used for in chakra healing?

Chakra Healing

Your seven chakras form a linear flow of energy along your body, with each one corresponding to different areas of health. Given all the talk about mental clarity and visions, one might assume that chrome diopside links to your crown or third-eye chakra. However, this gorgeous green gemstone is a well-known heart chakra activator! 

A blocked heart chakra might put us in a dark place. Feelings of isolation, loneliness, and distrust of people around you might mean your heart chakra needs some love. 

Chrome diopside is a great gemstone for the job, as it encourages you to love the world around you and inside you. It also encourages you to share your emotions, instead of bottling them up and creating a dam that prevents your heart chakra from flowing freely.

Chrome Diopside Gemstone Properties

Gemstone properties like color, cut, and carat weight determine a gem’s value on the market. Color, clarity, and cut influence the general and Russian chrome diopside value.

Color

While diopside comes in various yellow, brown, and green shades, chrome diopside is explicitly characterized by its shades of green. Just like emerald, high levels of chromium give chrome diopside its rich, green hues. 

Chrome diopside’s color dramatically influences its value. More vivid, bright greens fetch higher prices, while duller, sea-green varieties aren’t as expensive. 

Other color value boosts are pleochroism and fluorescence. Sunlight helps you see different shades of green on the stone from different angles, and quality cuts highlight this best.

Cut

Lapidaries (gem-cutters) always try to showcase chrome diopside’s awe-inspiring optical effects. Faceted cuts like marquise, oval, pear, emerald, and briolettes best display chrome diopside fluorescence and pleochroism, making them more valuable. 

You’ll also find silky-smooth chrome diopside in cabochon cuts, which are perfect for a more affordable ring or pendant. Cloudier varieties of chrome diopside are often beaded, offering a rustic, earthy aesthetic for a bracelet or necklace.

Speaking of cloudiness, let’s look at how clarity influences the stone’s value. 

Clarity

With a refractive index of 1.66-1.70 (double emerald’s), chrome diopside’s surface reflects an impressive amount of light, enhancing its brilliance. 

Small chrome diopside crystals display divine translucence or transparency, which increases their brilliance and subsequently value. Cloudier, opaque-leaning gems aren’t as valuable, making most beaded chrome diopside jewelry options more affordable. 

Another benefit of small chrome diopside gems? They tend to lack visible flaws or inclusions, helping maintain their high value. 

Carat Weight & Size

Chrome diopside tends to showcase more impressive clarity and color in sizes under one carat. However, the ideal chrome diopside size, provided it still has a bright green color and clarity, is less than 2-5 carats and either 8 mm by 6 mm, or 10 mm by 8 mm. 

How about larger specimens that surpass 15 carats? At that size, is chrome diopside getting rare? Indeed. The larger and greener the stone, the rarer it is. 

Gemstones larger than five carats usually have a much darker green color that nears a black hue, making them less desirable. 

Chrome Diopside Formation & Sources

Diopside occurs more often in the Earth’s mantle than its surface, explaining why it appears within igneous rocks and after volcanic eruptions. 

Chrome diopside usually occurs in both metamorphic and igneous rock, forming during the formation of limestone and dolomite. 

Moving on, where do miners find chrome diopside crystals?

Mining Locations

Chrome diopside primarily comes from the Ingali region of Eastern Siberia. But, where is chrome diopside found outside of Russia? 

Interestingly enough, mining locations distinguish the stone when comparing chrome diopside vs. tsavorite. Specifically, you can find chrome diopside gems more easily in the following places:

• Siberia, Russia: Rarest, top-quality chrome diopside gems in vivid green shades with impressive transparency

• Madagascar: Dark, cloudy shades of green, often in large carat weights

• Pakistan: Lighter, sea-green hues

• Quebec, Canada: Light, cloudy shades of green, often more opaque and less valuable

Before you start shopping, let’s talk about chrome diopside value. 

Chrome Diopside Price & Value

Despite its reputation as an affordable emerald dupe, is chrome diopside valuable?

Chrome diopside has a wide price range influenced by its color, size, clarity, and cut. Therefore, while chrome diopside is relatively affordable, gemstones range anywhere from $0.10 to $100 per carat. 

Raw chrome diopside from Russia with green hues but weak clarity goes for around $0.30 per carat. Faceted cuts with pleochroism and near-transparency will run you between $80-$100 per carat. 

The most affordable option? Rough specimens and beaded, opaque cuts. Transparency and brilliance are attractive, but the rougher gemstones offer a more organic feel! 

Given chrome diopside’s price, you’ll want to know how to best maintain its brilliance and color!

Chrome Diopside Care and Maintenance

The properties for chrome diopside vs. emerald are similar, but one stark difference separates the two: hardness. While the virtually impenetrable emerald ranks an impressive 8 on the Mohs scale, chrome diopside sits much lower at a 5-6 ranking. It also has a brittle tenacity, meaning it can easily break or shatter. 

So, you should take extra care to protect your green gemstone from scratches, even from the unassuming (yet strong) 7-Mohs-ranked dust particles that build up over time! 

Our advice? Wear chrome diopside during your most elegant activities, like walking along the water, attending a charity gala, or even a romantic dinner date. As for gardening, tennis, working, and showering — it’s best to either leave your chrome diopside ring at home or store it in a protective velvet pouch. 

You can also care for your gemstone by cleaning chrome diopside with mild soap and warm water, gently brushing the stone with a soft-haired brush. 

Slide Into Style with Chrome Diopside!

Chrome diopside’s soothing healing properties and spectacular green tones make it perfect for a striking ring, pendant, or decor item. 

Whether you’re shopping for grounding beads or a superb, brilliant faceted cut, GemRockAuctions is your top choice for the best chrome diopside on the market! 

Ready to radiate with clarity and class? Shop for Chrome Diopside Gemstones Today!

Chrome Diopside