Angelite Crystal Bracelet

Angelite is the trade name for a pale blue-grey anhydrite - anhydrous calcium sulfate, CaSO₄. Its mineral name, anhydrite, is Greek for "without water": it is the form calcium sulfate takes when it crystallises dry, the close kin of water-bearing gypsum.

The colour is a soft, even sky-blue to blue-grey, often faintly mottled with white, with a matte to gently waxy surface rather than a glassy shine. Mohs 3 to 3.5, soft, and like its kin sensitive to water.

Anhydrite and gypsum are two states of one chemistry: anhydrite slowly takes up water and turns to gypsum over geological time. That kinship is why angelite, like selenite, is kept dry and handled with care.

Asked often

What is angelite?
A trade name for pale blue anhydrite - calcium sulfate that crystallised without water, the dry kin of gypsum. The blue-grey colour is its own, and the stone is named for that gentle, sky-like tone.

Why must it be kept dry?
Anhydrite is calcium sulfate without water, and it slowly takes water up - prolonged damp can cloud or break down the surface. Kept dry, it holds; it is wiped only with a dry cloth.

Is it soft?
Yes - Mohs 3 to 3.5, soft, like gypsum. It scratches easily and is worn with care, spared knocks and abrasion.

How do I care for it?
Dry cloth only. Keep it from water and damp, from scent and lotion, and from knocks. Store it apart from harder beads, and remove it before washing, swimming, and bathing.

1. Worn on either wrist, over the hand, on a durable elastic cord.
2. Wipe with a dry cloth only.
3. Keep it from water and damp; store it apart from harder stones, which will scratch it.
4. Soft at Mohs 3 to 3.5 - spare the beads knocks and abrasion.

Angelite, like selenite, is a soft calcium sulfate that dislikes water. Kept dry and gently handled, the soft blue holds; it is not a stone for the shower or the sink.

Dry cloth only. Keep from water, damp, scent, and abrasion. Store apart from harder beads. Remove before any contact with water.

• Stone: Angelite · pale anhydrite
• Composition: CaSO₄ · anhydrous calcium sulfate
• Hardness: Mohs 3–3.5 (soft)
• Colour: Pale sky-blue to blue-grey · matte
• Treatment: None · natural
• Band: Durable elastic cord
• Origin: Peru
• Care: Dry cloth only · keep from water

Anhydrite forms in drying basins where seawater evaporated and left its minerals behind - thick beds of it underlie old salt flats and evaporite deposits around the world. The pale blue material worked as angelite comes chiefly from Peru, where it is mined and cut into beads and small carvings.

For its soft sky-blue the stone has been read as a calm, airy material across the cultures that have worked it - named here as what people believed. The blue is calcium sulfate; what it settles is the wearer’s.