Main index --- Minerals list --- Jewelry index Jet Monkey Puzzle tree
Name:Jet
Derivation:From "Jaiet" (Old French) via Latin from Gagas, a town in Lydia, where it was found
Description: Black, shiny and very light. In fact, it looks like black plastic! When you rub it on a hard white stone, you get a brown mark, or "streak". This is a good way to tell jet from sea coal (which would make a black mark).

Jet is fossiled Monkey Puzzle tree, under anaerobic conditions. This means that it sunk into the mud and became a fossil without exposure to air or oxygen. It can be found on the beach at Whitby in Yorkshire. It is very satisfying to see that Monkey Puzzle is still a favourite tree in Yorkshire!

When polished, it is very black and shiny. It has been found in British tombs from Early Bronze Age. It was very popular in Roman times. The Jorvik Viking excavation in York found jet beads from Whitby. In Victorian times, it was fashionable to wear jet jewelry when mourning, since you were only allowed to wear black. The top piece above is a Victorian brooch.

Larger pictures of Jet:

An unpolished specimen, showing a shiny surface where broken.

Jet

A polished specimen.

Jet

Some jet from Whitby.

Jet

A broken Victorian bead.

Jet

A Victorian brooch.

Jet