Discovered in Russia in 1830, Alexandrite is a color-changing variety of chrysoberyl. The color change can be so drastic, that it has been referred to as “emerald by day, ruby by night”.

Alexandrite, along with pearl and moonstone, is the birthstone for June, and is also the gem for the 55th wedding anniversary.

Read more about alexandrite by visiting the GIA website.

*The photo used is not from our own inventory*

Also known as Amazonstone, Amazonite gets its name from the Amazon River. Many green stones were known to be found there, although it is unknown if those stones were indeed Amazonite because there is no deposit found there today.

Amethyst was as expensive as ruby and emerald until the 19th Century, when Brazil’s large deposits were discovered. It was believed to prevent intoxication - “amethystos” means “not drunk” in ancient Greek. Today, as the most valued quartz variety, amethyst is in demand for designer pieces and mass-market jewelry alike, and its purple to pastel hues retain wide consumer appeal.

Amethyst is the birthstone for February, and is also the gem for the 6th and 17th wedding anniversaries.

Read more about amethyst by visiting the GIA website.

Aquamarine’s name comes from the Latin for seawater and it was said to calm waves and keep sailors safe at sea. The best gems combine high clarity with limpid transparency and blue to slightly greenish blue hues. Like many beryls, aquamarine forms large crystals suitable for sizable fashioned gems and carvings.

Aquamarine is the birthstone for March, and is also the gem for the 19th wedding anniversary.

Read more about aquamarine by visiting the GIA website.

Chalcedony is a variety of the quartz family, made of the same quartz crystals, just fine grained and fibrous. Because of this, chalcedonies are very hard stones and generally good for carving. Its name comes from Chalcedon or Calchedon, which was an ancient port city near what is now Istanbul, Turkey. The “ch” that begins “chalcedony” is pronounced only as a “c”.

A relatively new gemstone, only recently found in 1988 in Russia. Large supplies of chrome diopisde are rare, as the harsh temperatures often make mining too dangerous. The intense green color comes from the mineral, chromium.

Citrine is rare in nature. In the days before modern gemology, its tawny color caused it to be confused with topaz. Today, its attractive color, plus the durability and affordability it shares with most other quartzes, makes it the top-selling yellow-to-orange gem. In the contemporary market, citrine’s most popular shade is an earthy, deep, brownish or reddish orange.

Citrine, along with topaz, is the birthstone for November, and is also the gem for the 13th wedding anniversary.

Read more about citrine by visiting the GIA website.

Diamond forms under high temperature and pressure conditions that exist only about 100 miles beneath the earth’s surface. Diamond’s carbon atoms are bonded in essentially the same way in all directions. Another mineral, graphite, also contains only carbon, but its formation process and crystal structure are very different. Graphite is so soft that you can write with it, while diamond is so hard that you can only scratch it with another diamond.

Fine color diamonds, or fancy color diamonds, as they are more popularly known, are the most rare and costly of all gemstones. Unlike so-called “colorless diamonds”, the value of a fancy color diamond generally increases with the strength and purity of the color.

Diamond is the birthstone for April, and is also the gem for the 60th and 75th wedding anniversaries.

Read more about diamond by visiting the GIA website.

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Emeralds are known as the gem of spring. Gem experts differ on the degree of green that makes one stone an emerald and another stone a less-expensive green beryl. Most gemologists, gemological laboratories, and colored stone dealers call a stone green beryl when its color is “too light” for it to be classified as emerald. Even among that group, however, there’s a difference of opinion about what’s considered “too light.”

Emeralds originate in different countries, but generally Colombian or Zambian are the most sought-after.

Emerald is the birthstone for May, and is also the gem for the 20th and 35th wedding anniversaries.

Read more about emerald by visiting the GIA website.

Red garnets have a long history, but modern gem buyers can pick from a rich palette of garnet colors: greens, oranges, pinkish oranges, deeply saturated purplish reds, and even some blues. Red garnet is one of the most common and widespread of gems. But not all garnets are as abundant as the red ones.

Garnet is the birthstone for January, and is also the gem for the 2nd wedding anniversary.

Read more about garnet by visiting the GIA website.

Tsavorite Garnet

One of the most sought-after varieties of garnet is Tsavorite, a type of grossular garnet found in Tanzania, Kenya, and Madagascar, with some small deposits found in other countries as well. It is a vibrant shade of green, and carries a magnificent brilliance

Iolite, better referred to among geologists as cordierite, was named after the French mineralogist, Pierre Cordier. Iolite gets its name from the Greek word “ios”, which means “violet”.

Iolite is the gem for the 21st wedding anniversary.

Read more about iolite by visiting the GIA website.

Jade is made up of two separate gems - nephrite and jadeite. Both are metamorphic rocks made up of interlocking mineral crystals.

Jade is the gem for the 12th wedding anniversary.

Read more about jade by visiting the GIA website.

Jasper is an opaque gemstone who’s name means spotted or speckled stone. This comes from the Old French word “jaspre” which is derived from the Latin term “iaspidem”. As a member of the quartz family, it has infinite color and pattern combinations, which are often showcased by the rough being cut into a cabochon.

Often considered to be a sign for the beginning of a new life, kunzite is a pinkish violet stone that is considered unusual to come across. Discovered near San Diego, California, in 1902, it gets its name from Dr. G. F. Kunz, who first described the gem. It is part of the mineral group spodumene, and is primarily found in Afghanistan. The sweet tones of kunzite are created by natural deposits of the element manganese. Due to the fact that kunzite was only discovered in the early 20th century, there aren’t very many beliefs or myths about it, but some people do believe that its color stands for purity and innocence. Yet others believe that a dream of kunzite pledges the dreamer hospitality while on an expedition to a foreign land.

Some consider kunzite to be an alternate birthstone for February.

Read more about kunzite by visiting the GIA website.

Kyanite, also known as cyanite or disthene, forms in elongated blades often accompanied by garnet and quartz. It was named in 1789 from the Greek word “kyanos”, meaning “blue”. Although found in many places throughout the world, the highest quality and most authentic kyanite comes from Nepal and Tibet.

Moonstone, found in Ceylon (Sri Lanka), India, and Switzerland, derives its name from its blue-white sheen and is a member of the orthoclase family within feldspars. In ancient time, it was said that if moonstone was held up to the sky during a full moon, it would warn of any approaching threats and they also took the blame for lunar eclipses. India, it was a sacred stone and widely believed to bring good luck.

During formation, orthoclase and albite separate into alternating layers. When light falls between these thin layers it is scattered producing the phenomenon called adularescence. Adularescence is the light that appears to billow across a gem. Other feldspar minerals can also show adularescence including labradorite and sanidine.

Moonstone, along with pearl and alexandrite, is the birthstone for June.

Read more about moonstone by visiting the GIA website.

Discovered in Madagascar in the early 1900’s, morganite was first known as pink beryl. It was later renamed after J.P. Morgan, an avid Tiffany’s gemstone collector. In more recent years, morganite has become a popular stone in engagement rings, giving the same kind of brilliance as a diamond, at a fraction of the price.

Read more about morganite by visiting the GIA website.

Opal is thought to have derived its name from the Sanskrit word “upala” or the Greek word “opalios”, both meaning “precious stone”, or “gem”. During Medieval times, the opal was given to blond maidens as a guarantee to prevent their hair from darkening. The vivid flames of color that can be seen in opals come from tiny cracks throughout the stone, invisible to the naked eye. However, this makes the opal is extremely fragile and softer than most crystalline gems. Opals are generally associated with bad luck, many people even refusing to wear them despite their beauty. One of the reasons that this myth started was that due to their tendency to break easily. Another prominent factor in this legend was the book Anne of Geierstein, by Sir Walter Scott. One of the characters in the novel, Lady Hermione, wore an opal teat reflected her moods. When Holy Water was sprinkled on, she became very ill, and soon disappeared, leaving behind only a pile of ashes and her opal. In addition, the opal was known as Patronus furum, or the Patron of Thieves, because it was thought to make a person invisible at will.

Because opal has the colors of other gems, the Romans thought it was the most precious and powerful of all. The Bedouins believed that opals contained lightning and fell from the sky during thunderstorms. When Australia’s mines began to produce opals commercially in the 1890’s, it quickly became the world’s primary source of this stunning gem.

Opal is the birthstone for October.

Read more about opal by visiting the GIA website.

Although they are a type of tourmaline, I believe Paraiba tourmalines deserve their very own section. They are among the world’s most prized gemstones, particularly the neon or “windex” blue color, and my most favorite and most coveted gemstone. The color intensity is determined by the amount of copper in the stone. 

First discovered in 1989, the name comes from the original location, the Brazilian state of Paraíba.

Perhaps the best-loved gems of all time, pearls—natural and cultured—occur in a wide variety of colors. The most familiar are white and cream, but the palette of colors extends to every hue. Natural pearls form around a microscopic irritant in the bodies of certain mollusks. Cultured pearls are the result of the deliberate insertion of a bead or piece of tissue that the mollusk coats with nacre.

Pearl is the birthstone for June, and is also the gem for the 3rd and 30th wedding anniversaries.

Read more about pearl by visiting the GIA website.

Peridot is a greenish-yellow stone, which has quite an impressive history. Originally known as chrysolite, peridot is a member of the olivine family. The first and most important deposits were discovered approximately 4000 years ago on Zebirget, a remote desert island in the Red Sea. Peridot is considered a stone of the spring, ancients believing that it was a gift from Mother Nature, celebrating each new year. National leaders who wore peridots were generally thought to be gentle, fair, and wise rulers. To dream of a peridot it was believed that peridot had the power to dispel darkness and the terrors of the night. 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 smaller gems are available for jewelry at all price points

Peridot is the birthstone for August, and is also the gem for the 15th wedding anniversary.

Read more about peridot by visiting the GIA website.

This stone, named after Colonel H. Von Prehn, is formed in numerous ways. It can be formed in veins or cavities of igneous rocks; it also transpires in metamorphic rocks. In addition, when plagioclase feldspar decays, it forms Prehnite. As previously mentioned, it was discovered by Colonel H. Von Prehn, a Dutchman, and he unearthed it on the Cape of Good Hope, in South Africa. It might be pale green, gray, yellow, or white. Prehnite doesn’t always occur as a solid stone; it can also occur as an epimorph or a crystal growth over another mineral.

Quartz, the world’s most abundant mineral comes in a wide variety of hues. In ancient Greece, quartz, which derives its name from the word “kristallos“, meaning “ice”, was thought to be a type of ice created by the gods.

Ruby, in principle, should actually be red corundum; however, it has been given its own name, a name that is now known as one of the worlds most famous gemstones.

Rubies can command the highest per-carat price of any colored stone. This makes ruby one of the most important gems in the colored stone market. In its purest form, the mineral corundum is colorless. Trace elements that become part of the mineral’s crystal structure cause variations in its color. Chromium is the trace element that causes ruby’s red color.

It is extremely hard, labeled a 9 on moh’s hardness scale, and is only colored in red, although it may have different color undertones. The highest quality natural rubies are dug up in the country that used to be known as Burma. Originally, Burmese rubies (which retain the title “Burmese” even though the country is officially called Myanmar) were deemed to legally be government property. One of the most interesting myths about this stone is that it is considered the most powerful gemstone in the universe.

Ruby is the birthstone for July, and is also the gem for the 15th and 40th wedding anniversaries.

Read more about ruby by visiting the GIA website.

The name “sapphire” can also apply to any corundum that’s not ruby red, another corundum variety. 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, or brown.

Sapphire is the birthstone for September, and is also the gem for the 5th and 45th wedding anniversaries.

Read more about sapphire by visiting the GIA website.

Sphalerite is a type of ore. Discovered in 1874, its name is based on the Greek word “sphaleros”, meaning “deceiving”, due to how difficult it is to identify the stone. 

The gem Sphalerite was found only by accident when the area was being mined for zinc and copper. Large clean stones are rare.

Sphene, also known as titanite, has rich body colors, strong trichroism, and a fire that exceeds diamond.

It gets its name from the Greek word “sphenos” for “wedge,” in allusion to sphene’s characteristic wedge-shaped crystals. It belongs to the titanite mineral group as the titanium-rich member. It’s the only member of this group commonly used as a gemstone. While mineralogists officially use the term titanite to refer to this stone, many gemologists use the term sphene

A preference exists for lighter tones, especially yellows, light oranges, and greens, which best exhibit sphene’s magnificent dispersion.

The crystals that make up a spinel are so perfect, that in Burma they are known to be “nat thew” or “polished by the spirits”.

Many historical jewels held spinels, which were often mistaken for rubies, including the 14th century British Imperial Crown, which housed the Black Prince’s Ruby.

Spinel was recently added, alongside peridot, as the birthstone for August.

Read more about spinel by visiting the GIA website.

First discovered and mined in 1967 in Tanzania, and nowhere else in the world, is where tanzanite gets its name.  

Tanzanite, along with zircon, turquoise and blue topaz, is the birthstone for December, and is also the gem for the 24th wedding anniversary.

Read more about tanzanite by visiting the GIA website.

Topaz actually has an exceptionally wide color range that, besides brown, includes various tones and saturations of blue, green, yellow, orange, red, pink, and purple. Colorless topaz is plentiful, and is often treated to give it a blue color. Topaz is also pleochroic, meaning that the gem can show different colors in different crystal directions.

Its name was either derived from the island known now as Zebirget, but then called Topazos, in the Red Sea, or from the Greek word “topazion”, which is said to come from the Sanskrit word “tapas”, meaning fire. It was said that a dream of topaz before a journey meant that absolutely no harm would come the traveler en-route or even after arrival to their destination; it also was said to be a cure for madness. Some of the largest crystals are topazes, weighing as much as 660 pounds or 300 kilograms.

Precious, or imperial topaz, is the birthstone for November, and is also the gem for the 23rd wedding anniversary.

Blue topaz is the birthstone for December, and is also the gem for the 4th wedding anniversary.

Read more about topaz by visiting the GIA website.

The tourmaline family consists of beautiful gems. The colors have many different causes. It’s generally agreed that traces of iron, and possibly titanium, induce green and blue colors. Manganese produces reds and pinks, and possibly yellows. Some pink and yellow tourmalines might owe their hues to color centers caused by radiation, which can be natural or laboratory-induced.

Tourmaline is also often found with green and pink coloring that is separated by a white or colorless strip, known as watermelon tourmaline. In the 18th century, a Dutch scientist claimed that a Tourmaline wrapped in silk and placed on the cheek of a feverish child would induce sleep.

Tourmaline, along with opal, is the birthstone for October, and is also the gem for the 8th wedding anniversary.

Read more about tourmaline by visiting the GIA website.

Found in dry and barren regions, turquoise is one of the world’s longest treasured stones. Known as “mefkat” to the Ancient Egyptians, it translates to “joy” and “delight”, and can also be found in some of the world’s oldest jewelry.

Turquoise is the birthstone for December, and is also the gem for the 11th wedding anniversary.

Read more about turquoise by visiting the GIA website.

Australia is home to the oldest mineral on earth; zircon. It is estimated that it is over 4 billion years old. The colorless variety has often been confused with a diamond, as the brilliance and flashes of light inside are so similar.  

Zircon, along with turquoise and tanzanite, is the birthstone for December.

Read more about zircon by visiting the GIA website.