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Stones for the 12 Months |
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| STONES FOR THE TWELVE MONTHS |
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| JANUARY |
Januarys birthstone is garnet, traditionally it is a rich deep-red, which is the most frequently found color in garnets. However, far too few people are aware that in the world of the garnets there are far more colors than red. Spectacular finds, especially in Africa, have enhanced the traditional image of the garnet with a surprising number of colors such as orange, purple, maroon and green although red does continue to be its principal color. Thanks to their rich color spectrum and abundance, garnets today can quite happily keep pace with changes of style and the color trends of fashion. Garnets are a 7 on the mohs scale of hardness making it a durable every day stone.
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| FEBRUARY |
The stone for the month of February is Amethyst. Amethyst ranges in color from pale lilac to deep purple. The pale colors are sometimes called "Rose de France" and can be seen set in Victorian jewelry. The deep colors are the most valuable, particularly a rich purple with rose flashes. Amethyst is mined in Brazil, Uruguay, Bolivia and Argentina, as well as in Zambia, Namibia and other African countries.
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| MARCH |
The Birthstone for March is Aquamarine which is a Beryl in the same family as an Emerald. Aquamarine is dichroic, appearing blue or colorless as the stone is viewed from different angles. The mohs scale puts it at a 7.5 hardness. It is almost as popular as the classics: ruby, sapphire and emerald. In fact it is related to the emerald, both belonging to the beryl family. Much more often than its famous green cousin, aquamarine is almost entirely free of inclusions. Iron is the substance which gives aquamarine its colour, a colour which ranges from an almost indiscernible pale blue to a strong sea-blue. The more intense the colour of an aquamarine, the more value is put on it. Some aquamarines have a light, greenish shimmer; that too is a typical feature. However, it is a pure, clear blue that continues to epitomise the aquamarine, because it brings out so well the immaculate transparency and magnificent shine of this gemstone.
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| APRIL |
The Birthstone for April is Diamond. Diamond is the hardest mineral on Earth, and this combined with its exceptional luster and brilliant fire, has made it the most highly prized of all gems. Diamonds range in color from colorless to red, green, black, pink, purple, blue, orange and yellow.
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| MAY |
The stone for the month of May is an Emerald, which is a beryl. The Emerald is most often step cut to minimize the loss of material, thus the Emerald cut was born which is the most common cut for Emeralds. Inclusions are tolerated in this valuable stone. In top quality, fine emeralds are even more valuable than diamonds. The lively luminosity of its color makes the emerald a unique gemstone. However, really good quality is fairly rare, with inclusions often marring the evenness of the color. Fine inclusions, however, do not by any means diminish the high regard in which it is held. On the contrary: even with inclusions, an emerald in a deep, lively green still has a much higher value than an almost flawless emerald whose color is paler.
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| JUNE |
The stones for the month of June are Pearl and Alexandrite.
Pearls come from Pearl oysters (bivalvia) . A natural pearl begins its life as a foreign object, such as a parasite or piece of shell that accidently lodges itself inside the Mantle from where it cannot be expelled causing some irritation to the oyster. To ease this irritation, the oysters body begins to secrete a smooth, hard crystaline substance around the irritant. This substance is called nacre. As long as the irritant remains within its body, the oyster will continue to secrete nacre around it, layer upon layer.Over time, the irritant will be completely encased by the silky crystalline coatings. And the result is a lustrous pearl. Cultured pearls are made similarly the difference being that man puts the irritant there instead of nature. In a cultured pearl there is usually less Nacre than on a natural pearl.
Alexandrite is a rare gemstone that is named after the Russian tsar Alexander II (1818-1881), the very first crystals having been discovered in April 1834 in the emerald mines near the Tokovaya River in the Urals. The discovery was made on the day the future tsar came of age. Although alexandrite is a relatively young gemstone, it certainly has a noble history. Since it shows both red and green, the principal colours of old Imperial Russia, it inevitably became the national stone of tsarist Russia. The most sensational feature about this stone, however, is its surprising ability to change its colour. Green or bluish-green in daylight, alexandrite turns a soft shade of red, purplish-red or raspberry red in incandescent light. This unique optical characteristic makes it one of the most valuable gemstones of all, especially in fine qualities.
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| JULY |
The stone for the month of July is Ruby. Ruby is the red variety of the corundum mineral, one of the hardest minerals on Earth which also includes Sapphire. Pure corundum is colorless. Slight traces of the color creating elements such as chrome, iron, titanium or vanadium are responsible for the color. These gemstones show an excellent hardness. On the Moh’s Scale they achieve a hardness of 9, second only to diamonds. And only red corundum may be called Ruby, any other color is a Sapphire. The Ruby consists of aluminium oxide and chrome as well as smallest proportions of other trace elements - depending on the respective occurrence.
Color is a Ruby’s most important feature, and transparency is secondary. Therefore, inclusions do not effect the quality of a Ruby, unless they decrease the transparency of the stone or are located right in the center of its table. Quite the contrary applies, inclusions within a ruby are something like the gemstones fingerprints, stating its individuality while at the same time proving its genuineness like a certificate provided by Nature. The cut is essential: only a perfect cut will underline the beauty of this valuable and precious stone appropriately to make it really the "King of Gemstones”. But just as true love is rare indeed, so are really perfect Rubies. And if you find one, it is bound to cost a small fortune. Nevertheless, once you find "your” Ruby, do not hesitate, go for it and keep it!
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| AUGUST |
Peridot is the gemstone variety of the Olivin mineral. In the gemstone trade it is generally called Peridot, a name derived from the Greek “peridona”, meaning something like “giving plenty”.
Peridot is one of the few gemstones which exist only in one color. Finest traces of iron account for the deep green color with a slight golden hue. Chemically, Peridot is just an iron-magnesium-silicate, and the intensity of color depends on the amount of iron it contains. The best colored peridot has an iron percentage of less than 15% and includes nickel and chromium as trace elements. The color as such can come in any variation from yellow-green and olive to brownish green. Peridot is about a 6.5 to 7 on the Mohs´ scale – it is easy to care for and quite robust. Very rare Peridot gemstones are Peridot-Cat’s Eye and Star-Peridot.
The most beautiful stones come from the Pakistan-Afghanistan border region. Peridot as gemstone does also exist in Myanmar, China, the USA, Africa and Australia. Stones from East Burma, today’s Myanmar, show a vivid green with fine silky inclusions. Peridot from the American state of Arizona, often shows a yellowish to golden brown shade.
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| SEPTEMBER |
Sapphires belong to the corundum group, which is set apart from other gemstones by their hardness which is a 9 on the mohs scale. They are second in hardness to only diamonds, and diamonds represent the hardest mineral on Earth! Because of their hardness, sapphires are easy to care for as a gemstone and demand from their wearers only the usual and normal care.
The corundum group consists of pure aluminium oxide, crystallized into beautiful and splendid gemstones by pressure, heat and time in the depths of the earth. Small traces of other elements, mainly iron and chrome, are responsible for the resulting colors and make the basically white crystals a blue, red, yellow, pink or green Sapphire. But this does not necessarily imply that any corundum is a sapphire. Which stone may be termed a Sapphire? This is a question, which for centuries has fueled heated discussions among experts. Finally they came to an agreement to call ruby-red Sapphires "Rubies”, and all other colors "Sapphires".
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| OCTOBER |
Australia is the country that produces the most opals and today is the worldwide most important supplier of Fine Opals. Almost 95 percent of all Opals come from Australian mines. The remaining five percent are mined in Mexico, and in Brazil’s north, also in the US states of Idaho and Nevada, but recently the stones have also been found in Ethiopia and in the West African country of Mali.
The history of Australian Opal began actually millions of years ago, when parts of Australia were covered by a vast inland sea, and stone sediment was deposited along its shoreline. When the water masses flooded back, they flushed water containing silica into the resulting cavities and niches in the sedimentary rocks. Slowly the silica stone transformed into Opal, for basically Opals are simply a combination of silica and water. Or, to be more precise: Opals are a form of silica, chemically similar to quartz, but containing water within the mineral structure. Opals show a 6 on the mohs hardness scale.
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| NOVEMBER |
Tourmalines are mixed crystals of complex aluminium-borosilicate varying in their composition. The slightest changes in composition will result in completely different colors. In fact, crystals showing one color only are quite rare; generally one and the same crystal displays several shades and colors. Not only the wide range of colors characterises this gemstone, it also shows a remarkable dichroism. Depending on the angle of view the color will be different or at least show different intensity. The deepest color always appears along the main axis, a fact that the gemstone cutter has to keep in mind when cutting the stone. This gemstone is excellently suited for wearing and is uncomplicated to care for, since all Tourmalines show a hardness of 7 to 7.5 on the Mohs’ scale.
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| DECEMBER |
Zircon occurs in a wide range of colors, but for many years the most popular was the colorless variety, which looks more like diamond than any other natural stone because of its brilliance and dispersion.
Today the most popular color is blue zircon, which is the birthstone for December. Most blue zircon is of a pastel green-blue color, but some exceptional gems have a bright green-blue color.
Zircon is one of the heaviest gemstones, which means that it will look smaller than other varieties of the same weight.
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