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Diopside, colour green and shape round faceted

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Diopside, colour green and shape round faceted. Gemstone quality diopside is found in two forms: black star diopside and chrome diopside (which includes chromium, giving it a rich green color). At 5.5–6.5 on the Mohs scale, chrome diopside is relatively soft to scratch. Due to the deep green color of the gem, they are sometimes referred to as Siberian emeralds, although they are on a mineralogical level completely unrelated, emerald being a precious stone and diopside being a semi-precious stone. Diopside derives its name from the Greek dis, "twice", and opse, "face" in reference to the two ways of orienting the vertical prism.