Hiddenite is an attractive gem mineral, but is rare and for the most part known only to collectors. The green color varies from a yellowish to a bluish green and can even approach the beauty of an emerald green. Hiddenite is one of two gemstone varieties of spodumene. The other variety is pink and is called kunzite. Hiddenite is strongly pleochroic, meaning there is a color intensity variation when a crystal of it is viewed from different directions. The top and bottom of the crystal reveal the deepest colors and knowlegable gem cutters take advantage of its effects. Hiddenite was exclusively (until recent finds in Madagascar and Brazil) found in Alexander Co., North Carolina and was first discovered there in the latter part of the nineteenth century. Due to hiddenite’s cleavage, splintery fracture and strong pleochroism, it is considered a real gem cutter’s challenge