Category Archives: Birthstone

Topaz Cast your eyes upon the ocean waters as the setting sun displays its dance of color, and you’ll discover all the rich spectral hues of topaz. On its cool side, it ranges from a soft sky blue to the richest and most vivid aqua and greenish blues imaginable. Warmer tones take on the golden […]

Prized by the ancient Egyptians as the gemstone of the sun, peridot has been credited with a host of healing and magical powers. A guard against the evil eye, peridot was thought to sweeten dreams and reveal insights. August’s birthstone, peridot is also recognized as the preferred gift for the 16th wedding anniversary. Historically, peridot […]

Believed to burn with an inextinguishable internal fire, ruby has historically signified great passion. This fiery red gemstone -the color of the heart- has always been associated with deep love. Also the color of blood, ruby signifies great courage. Ruby’s durability and hardness make it an ideal gemstone for all types of jewelry, especially rings. […]

The serenely colored aquamarine invokes the tranquility of its namesake, the sea. In fact, the name aquamarine is derived from the Latin word aqua, meaning water, and marina, meaning the sea. Aquamarine is most often light in tone and ranges from greenish blue to blue-green; the color usually is more intense in larger stones, and […]

Amethyst is the beautiful birthstone for February and the gem for the 6th and 17th wedding anniversaries,  it is the purple variety of the quartz mineral species.  It’s the gem that’s most commonly associated with the color purple.  Amethysts color can range from a light lilac to a deep, intense royal purple, and from brownish […]

  December’s birthstones offer three ways to fight the winter blues: tanzanite, zircon and turquoise – all of them, appropriately, best known for beautiful shades of blue. These gems range from the oldest on earth (zircon), to one of the first mined and used in jewelry (turquoise), to one of the most recently discovered (tanzanite). […]

CITRINE AND TOPAZ ARE THE BIRTHSTONES FOR NOVEMBER Through much of history, all yellow gems were considered topaz and all topaz was thought to be yellow. Topaz is actually available in many colors, and it’s likely not even related to the stones that first donned its name. The name topaz derives from Topazios, the ancient […]

Beautiful Opals and Tourmaline for October! Opal Revered as a symbol of hope, fidelity, and purity, opal was dubbed the Queen of Gems by the ancient Romans because it encompassed the colors of all other gems. Opal is prized for its unique play of color, the ability to diffract light into flashes of rainbow color. […]

Besides blue sapphire and ruby, the corundum family also includes so-called “fancy sapphires.” They come in violet, green, yellow, orange, pink, purple, and intermediate hues. Some stones exhibit the phenomenon known as color change, most often going from blue in daylight or fluorescent lighting to purple under incandescent light. Sapphires can even be gray, black, […]

The ancient Egyptians mined peridot on the Red Sea island of Zabargad, the source for many large fine peridots in the world’s museums. The Egyptians called it the “gem of the sun.” Today this gem is still prized for its restful yellowish green hues and long history. Large strongly-colored, examples can be spectacular, and attractive […]