The peridot is a very old gemstone, and one which has become very popular again today. It is so ancient that it can be found in Egyptian jewelry from the early 2nd millennium B.C. It has an olive or bottle green color due to the presence of iron, and an oily luster. It has high birefringence, so the doubling of the back facets can easily be seen in large peridots when viewed from front. The peridot is one of the few gemstones which come in one colour only. The rich, green colour with the slight tinge of gold is caused by very fine traces of iron. From a chemical point of view, peridot is an iron magnesium silicate. The intensity of the colour depends on the amount of iron actually present. The colour itself can vary over all shades of yellowish green and olive, and even to a brownish green.Gem quality peridot comes from Arizona, Burma, Norway, islands in the Red Sea, Hawaii and is sometimes found in meteorites. It's been mined as a gemstone for thousands of years, and is mentioned in the Bible under the name of Chrysolite. Legend says that peridot was one of the favorite gemstones of Cleopatra and that some of the "emeralds" worn by her were actually peridot. 

   Olivine, of which peridot is a type, is a common mineral in mafic and ultramafic rocks, and it is often found in lavas and in peridotite xenoliths of the mantle, which lavas carry to the surface; but gem quality peridot only occurs in a fraction of these settings.Olivine in general is a very abundant mineral, but gem quality peridot is rather rare.Peridot olivine is mined in North Carolina, Arizona on the San Carlos Reservation, Hawaii, Nevada, and New Mexico, in the US; and in Australia, Brazil, China, Kenya, Mexico, Myanmar (Burma), Norway, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, Sri Lanka, and Tanzania. In much antique jewelry, peridot could have come from Egypt: in the late 18th century/early 19th century, peridot was taken from Egyptian ecclesiastial and other ornaments and reused in jewelry. Furthermore a location in Egypt was (re-) discovered but its location remains generally unknown. Peridot crystals have been collected from some Pallasite meteorites. A famous Pallasite was offered for auction in April 2008 with a requested price of close to $3 million at Bonhams, but remained unsold.  Peridot is the only gemstone found in meteorites. The largest cut peridot olivine is a 310 carat (62 g) specimen in the Smithsonian Museum in Washington, D.C.. Peridot is one of the few gemstones that occur in only one color: basically an olive green. The intensity and tint of the green however depends on how much iron is contained in the crystal 

structure, so the color of individual peridot gems can vary from yellow-green through olive green to brownish green. The most valuable is considered a dark-olive green color.