Similar to the awe-inspiring colors and movement of the Northern Lights, popular in Inuit and Beothuk cultures, Moravian missionaries brought the stone back to Europe in the 1770s, naming the stone after the location it was found: Labrador in east Canada.

Moravian missionaries unearthed the stone on Paul Island, an unassuming and remote part of eastern Canada near Nain, in Ford Harbour. Since the 1770’s, people have sought the iridescent stone all over the world and large deposits have been found on the other side of the Labrador Sea in Scandinavia.

Residents of the far northern hemisphere not only have iridescent art in the earth, but in the sky as well. The Aurora Borealis’ array of colors in the night sky is remarkably similar to the range of colors seen in Labradorite.