REVISITING A GEMSTONE BUTTERFLY CALLED SPECTROLITE Does spectrolite, a trade name for labradorite, have a nationality, an identity? The gem appears to be fighting nationality and identity problems, says Don Pier of GPG Trading, a New York City company that markets the Finnish spectrolite labradorite in the U.S. Regarding nationality, most gemology texts say labradorite must come from Finland to be called spectrolite. “But there also is stuff from India and Madagascar that some people call spectrolite,” says Pier. To be sure, many other forms of labradorite (a member of the feldspar group of minerals) come from other places, including off the coast of Labrador in North America (hence the name). But Finland, which straddles the Arctic Circle and whose Eastern border flanks Russia, is indeed the classic source of spectrolite. This labradorite of dark gray or black to brown body