There are very few gemstones in the world that occur in only one colour, and the peridot, the birthstone of August, is one such example. Coloured a vibrant green, this gem was known to the ancient Egyptians as the gem of the sun. Unlike the archetypal emerald, which can range from intense forest greens to the levity of young leaves, peridots lean towards more lively olive green shades. Peridots are the gem variety of olivine, which take their name from the Latin word for ‘olive’.
It may not be so commonly seen today, but peridots have been turned into gems, worn, appreciated and cherished since ancient times as early as 1500 BC. In fact, its earliest known source comes brimming with lore and legend you’d expect from the old world. The island of Zabargad, now known as St. John’s Island, is the oldest and longest-known place where the gem peridot could be found. Located off the Southeastern coast of Egypt in the Red Sea, Zabargad is the largest island in an area of open water known as Foul Bay.
The ancient peridot island
‘Foul’ should offer a hint on its environs. The bay was notoriously dangerous to early sailors, and upon reaching Zabargad one would find an island nearly bereft of life. The Swiss gemologist Edward Gübelin visited Zabargad in 1980, and wrote: “There is hardly any life on the island and no fresh water at all; one may justly describe it as a ‘desert island’. In fact, apart from low-growing shrubs, several giant turtles, and a few birds such as wagtails, ospreys, and gulls, practically no flora or fauna exist on Zabargad.”
What Zabargad has aplenty, instead, are deposits of peridot. The gemstone was known to the ancients, with the Roman naturalist Pliny the Elder writing of the famed island. The gems of Zabargad were mistaken in the past to be green topazes, which gave the island its classical antiquity name of Topazios. The term ‘topazios’ in ancient Greek means something closer to “to seek”, which referenced the fog-hidden nature of the island and the treasures it hid. It was only in more recent times that the green gems of Zabargad were properly identified, and peridot distinguished from topazes as a distinct gemstone unto itself. A difficult to reach island with little life on it, but gems that abound—quite literally a treasure island.
With so much beauty for the taking, the Egyptians naturally kept the island of Zabargad under close watch. Its treasures were a closely kept secret in ancient times, hidden from the rest of the world. It was visited in the 1700s and almost forgotten until it was rediscovered in the 1900s. Because there is no freshwater on the island, men and equipment have to be shipped over to access and exploit its gems—a serious undertaking. Around 1958, the quarries were officially closed and mining on Zabargad has since ceased.
Around the world, though, many more sources of peridot have been discovered, which has helped to keep this gemstone a constant, if a little unsung, presence in jewellery design. Today, peridot can be found in the United States, China, Pakistan, Myanmar, Vietnam, and Finland. It can even be found at times in meteorites that fall to Earth, but those rarely, if ever, make it to the market as gemstones.
The brightest green
Because of how consistently green this gem is, the best peridots are decided by their colour. Olivine can take on tints of brown and yellow, which contribute to its olive-green appearance, but the most precious kinds of peridot are those which are a pure, bright, almost Granny Smith apple-green. They are commonly mistaken by unfamiliar eyes with other green gemstones (emeralds, tsavorite garnets, and even cuprian tourmalines) but peridots can generally be spotted by their bright colour with a slight yellow tint compared to other green gems.
The finest examples are often used in high jewellery designs to evoke a sense of sunny optimism. In the Summer chapter of Tiffany & Co.’s 2026 Blue Book: Hidden Garden collection, the house’s chief artistic officer Nathalie Verdeille designed a set of Petal jewels set with cushion-cut peridots. These remarkable centre gems have a vivid saturation, and a rarer blue-green hue, that truly play up the gemstone’s historical associations with the sun. Verdeille set these on jewels decorated with diamond ribbons and buds, an accompaniment to bursts of green summer life.
Peridots high and low
Bvlgari, meanwhile, has a colour perspective guided by its Roman and Mediterranean identity. The jeweller is famous for its lively mix of coloured gemstones, which at its best can summon the kind of joy one gets when seeing a multicolour spread of gelato on a hot summer’s day. One of its more recent peridot creations is the Colour Treasures necklace, decorated with swirling diamond, chrysoprase and malachite waves, and set with an unmissable 60.71-carat peridot.
Though such large, outsized gems are reserved certainly for high jewellery, Bvlgari has also started to introduce more of its signature juicy coloured gemstones to its main collections. It introduced this year a line of Doppio Baccellato rings, and a new range of Tubogas designs that bear in a more accessible manner the house’s distinct chromatic vision.
One other Italian jeweller that designs beautifully with peridot is Pomellato. This house, guided by a 1970s sense of pizzazz, counts fun, playful colour as one of its core tenets. It has a particular approach to gems, preferring the kinds of colours and stones that are uplifting and that make you quiver with pleasure. Some of the most outstanding earrings introduced in the 2025 high jewellery collections came from Pomellato’s Collezione 1967 collection in its Marvelous Griffe design. Large pairs of oval cabochon gemstones are paired with claws and upper dangles set with matching gemstones in a slightly different hue. The brand had a pair of peridot earrings, enhanced with tsavorite garnets.
In Pomellato’s mainline Iconica collection, there are a number of designs set with trios of peridots. For those with an upsized gem appetite, though, the Prism ring from its 2026 Stile Libero high jewellery collection might satisfy. The design shifts the voluptuous goldsmithed silhouettes of the house’s jewels into a cushion-shape ring, set with a graduated line of five peridots held in place by diamond-set claws.
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Large and impressive peridots are fairly rare, making them the reserve of high jewellery. Fine peridots, however, can be found in a lot of jewellery collections. Because of its slight yellow tone, the gem pairs particularly well with yellow gold settings and mounts. And because of its brighter tint, peridot plays beautifully in multi-gem designs, especially with pastel gemstones like aquamarine and amethyst. And, perhaps because coloured gemstones have come to the fore once more as a way of wearing one’s individuality, this gem of the sun has plenty of opportunity to shine.
Explore Vogue’s edit of jewels set with peridots, the birthstone of August.
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Marina B Timo ring in yellow gold with a peridot, US$6,000
Available from Marina B.
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Van Cleef & Arpels Fleurs d'Hawaï necklace in yellow gold with peridots and diamonds, $26,500
Available from Van Cleef & Arpels.
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Bvlgari Doppio Baccellato ring in rose gold with peridot and amethyst, $9,220
Available from Bvlgari.
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Brilliant Earth Double Bezel Cabochon ring in 14-carat yellow gold with a peridot, $1,400
Available from Brilliant Earth.
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Pomellato Iconica ring in rose gold with peridot, $6,050
Available from Pomellato.
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Sarah & Sebastian Sand signet ring in sterling silver with peridot and diamonds, $725
Available from Sarah & Sebastian.
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Ashaha Snake cuff bracelet in 14-carat yellow gold with a peridot, sapphires, and semi-precious stones, €10,950
Available from Ashaha.
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Curious Creatures Strange x Curious Clarity bracelet in sterling silver with peridot, $299
Available from Curious Creatures.
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Bea Bongiasca Baby Vine ring in 9-carat gold, sterling silver and painted enamel with a peridot, €480
Available from Bea Bongiasca.
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Clara Chehab Irene Long Sequence earrings in pink gold with tumbled peridots, green sapphires and diamonds, US$9,015
Available from Clara Chehab.
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Bvlgari Tubogas mono earring in yellow gold with a peridot cabochon and diamonds, $11,150
Available from Bvlgari.
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Lisa Eldridge The Anderson charms in rose gold with peridot, £350
Available from Lisa Eldridge.
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Pomelato Isola necklace in rose gold with a peridot and diamonds, $8,300
Available from Pomellato.
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Suzanne Kalan Amalfi Blend ring in 14-carat yellow gold with peridots and diamonds, US$1,595
Available from Suzanne Kalan.
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Jia Jia Oracle necklace in 14-carat yellow gold with peridot beads, $5,450
Available from Net-a-Porter.
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Persée Paris Piercing Chakras mini earring in yellow gold with peridots, €710
Available from Persée Paris.
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