Powdered peridot has been used to cure asthma and a peridot placed under the tongue of someone in the grip of a fever will lessen their thirst. Legend has it that drinking from a peridot goblet can increase the potency of medicines. But as protection from evil spirits it must be pierced, strung on donkey hair and worn on the left arm. Possibly the most unusual peridot is that which comes from meteorites called pallasites . Some have even been facetted and set in jewelry, the only extraterrestrial gemstones known to man.
Peridot ranges in color from light yellow-green to the intense bright green of new grass to olive.
The purer green a peridot is, the higher the value. Any tinge of brown greatly diminishes the price as well as visible flaws. In 1994, an exciting new deposit of peridot was discovered in Pakistan, and these stones are among the finest ever seen. The new mine is located 15,000 feet above sea level in the Nanga Parbat region in the far west of the Himalayan Mountains in the Pakistani part of Kashmir. Beautiful large crystals of peridot were found, some that cut magnificent large gemstones.