Zircon occurs in an array of colors. Its wide and varied palette of yellow, green, red, reddish-brown, and blue hues makes it a favorite among collectors as well as informed consumers.

Colorless zircon is well known for its brilliance and flashes of multicolored light, called fire. These two zircon properties are close enough to the properties of diamond to account for centuries of confusion between the two gems. Zircon crystals grow in many different types of rock and possess a range of optical and physical properties.

Virtually all the zircons used in jewelry are of the high type. Interestingly, a radiation-induced crystal-structure breakdown can be reversed somewhat by heating zircon to high temperatures. High-temperature heat treatment repairs the stone’s damaged crystal structure.