Pearl is the birthstone for June, the gem for the zodiac sign Gemini and the anniversary gem for the 3rd and 3oth wedding anniversary.
A pearl is an organic gem formed inside molluscs ( mussels in freshwater and oysters in saltwater ). When a foreign substance such as a food particle slips inside, the creature protects itself by covering the irritant with layers of nacre. As layers of nacre are build up over time the pearl is formed.
La Peregrina is the most famous natural pearl. At 50.96ct it is about the size of a pigeon’s egg. It was owned by King Ferdinand V of Castile (1452-1516), King Philip II of Spain (1527-1598) who gave it to his wife Queen Mary I (1516-1558) and also by Dame Elizabeth Taylor (1921-2011). The pearl was mounted in a Cartier necklace and in New York on December 2011 Christie’s auctioned it for $11.8 million US dollars.
The majority of pearls available today are cultured. Desirable natural pearls are extremely rare and as such are equally expensive. In fact, only one in approximately 10,000 oysters not in farms will ever produce a pearl, and of those, only a very small percentage would ever yield a gem that is the right shape, size and colour to be desirable.
Cultured pearls grow in saltwater or freshwater pearl farms. A nucleus, basically a round bead, is inserted into the soft tissue of the mollusc. From there the pearl growing process is the same as that of a natural pearl.
Natural spinel has always been a rare and beautiful gem. It is one of the August birthstones and the gemstone for the 22nd wedding anniversary.
While spinels have surged in popularity in the last few decades they have been used in jewelry since ancient times. They can be found in many royal jewel collections. The 170ct “Black Prince’s Ruby” and the “Timur Ruby” in the Crown Jewels of England are two examples. Spinel was often mistakenly identified as ruby or sapphire in the past as they form under the same geological conditions and have similar colours, luster, and are nearly as hard, (8 on Moh’s scale of hardness). Traditionally they were mainly sourced in Afghanistan, Myanmar, and Sri Lanka, but more recently they have been discovered in various sites in Africa, Australia, Russia, and Vietnam.
Tanzanite is one of the birthstones for December and the 24th wedding anniversary gemstone.
Tanzanites are very rare. They are only found in a 20-square-mile area known as the Merelani Hills in Northern Tanzania, near the city of Arusha and Mount Kilimanjaro. Masai tribesman Ali Juuyawatu is said to have discovered the first tanzanite crystal in 1967.
Aquamarine is the birthstone for March and the gem for zodiac sign Pisces and the gemstone for the 18th or 19th wedding anniversary.
Aquamarine, the Latin for seawater is the name given to this light greenish-blue gem from the beryl family. Other types of beryl are emerald, morganite, golden beryl and heliodor, and the rarest – red beryl. Beryls can range from colourless to black, and crystals can range in size from single carats to extremely large and flawless examples displayed in museums. Transparent crystals are referred to as ‘precious beryl’.
The 1,298.00ct Roosevelt Aquamarine is one of the most famous aquamarines.
Garnet is the birthstone for January and the gem for the zodiac sign Capricorn. It is also associated with the 2nd, 15th and 19th wedding anniversaries.
When the term “Garnet” is used, it is usually the dark red type and other colour garnets are given more descriptive gemstone names. All garnets have essentially the same crystal structure, but they vary in chemical composition. Garnets have great brilliance due to their high refractive index and they have a hardness of 7 to 7.5 on the Mohs scale
There are more than twenty garnet categories, called species, but only five are commercially important as gems. Almandine, Pyrope, Grossular, Spessartine, Andradite and Uvarovite. These species are further divided into varieties with different colours and characteristics. Here are some of the most popular.
Tourmaline is the birthstone for October, the gem for the 8th anniversary and pink tourmaline is also an alternative gem for the 5th anniversary. It has a superior hardness (7 to 7.5 on the Mohs scale). Tourmaline has the widest range of colours apart from sapphire and spinel.
Tourmaline was first discovered in Brazil in the 1500s by a Spanish conquistador. Until scientists discovered otherwise, it was often mistaken for Emerald. Chinese Dowager Empress Tz’u Hsi (1835 – 1908) loved tourmaline and much of the tourmaline mined in San Diego, California was supplied to her and her court. In the 1980s, a new find of copper bearing elbaite tourmaline from Paraíba, Brazil came on to the market. The rare Paraiba tourmaline is prized for its neon blue/ green colours. More deposits have since been found in Nigeria and Mozambique. Paraiba Tourmalines prices have soared up exponentially in recent years.
The gem was first discovered in Madagascar in 1910 by George Kunz, the chief gemologist for Tiffany & Co. He named this gem Morganite in honour of his friend, (and Tiffany & Co’s best customer), the American financier and avid gem collector J.P. Morgan.
Morganite is the pink variety of beryl. Other colours in the Beryl family are – blue (Aquamarine), green (Emerald & Green Beryl), yellow (Heliodor), colorless (White Beryl/Goshenite) and red (Bixbite from Utah).
Morganites are found in Afghanistan, Brazil, China, Madagascar, Mozambique, Namibia, Zimbabwe and the USA (California and Maine).
Emerald is the birthstone for May, the gem for the zodiac sign Taurus. It is also the 2oth, the 35th and 55th wedding anniversary gemstone.
Emerald is a green variety of beryl, a mineral species that includes aquamarine,morganite and yellow beryl. It’s Mohs Hardness is 7.5 to 8. It’s density is lower than that of diamond, a one-carat emerald will appear larger in size than a one-carat diamond.
From pharaohs to Inca kings, emeralds have enchanted royalty. Cleopatra for example reputedly had a passion for these gems. The legendary Crown of the Andes is one example of how the Spanish revered emeralds, while the story of the Spanish galleon, the Nuestra Señora de Atocha, shows to what the lengths generations of treasure hunters went to discover its sunken loot.
Ruby is the birthstone for July, the gem for the 15th and 40th wedding anniversaries.
Rubies can have the highest per-carat price of any coloured stone, even higher than diamonds in the larger sizes. Rubies of over one carat are very rare.
Sapphire is the birthstone for September, the gem for the zodiac sign Virgo and is linked with the 5th, 7th, 9th, 10th, 23rd, 45th and 65th wedding anniversaries.
A popular choice in jewellery due to its exceptional brilliance, range of colour and hardness (9 on Moh’s scale) While most commonly thought of as blue, sapphire actually occurs in a wide range of colours, including pink, purple, orange, yellow, green and brown. (Sapphire is every colour of the mineral corundum except for red, which is ruby.)
