“Garnets are such a boring birthstone”, lamented my January-born cousin, Amy, recently. Thinking I knew what she had in mind, I asked “What colour is garnet?”. “Dirty red-brown”, replied Amy, saying exactly what I’d expected her to say. Like most people, Amy had no idea that garnet was available in a wide range of colours, [...]
November babies are lucky enough to have two gemstones to choose from as their birthstone. Citrine and topaz are both November birthstones and are both equally beautiful and unique. Let’s take a closer look at each of these gems and find out what makes them special. November birthstone 1: Citrine Citrine is a variety of [...]
September is officially considered the start of spring in South Africa. Birds are singing, flowers are blooming and love is certainly in the air as peak engagement and wedding season starts. September's birthstone, sapphire, is a well known gem, but here are 10 things you might not know about this gorgeous gemstone: What is sapphire? [...]
Love, success, passion and energy – all are positive qualities associated with the colour red and the gemstone ruby, the most royal of all gems and July's birthstone. Ruby is the most prized gem of them all; after all, in ancient Sanskrit, ruby translated to “Ratnaraj”, which meant “king of precious stones" and, in addition [...]
As we move into the second half of 2017, we welcome Ruby as the birthstone of July. Not only is ruby a perfect birthday gift for July babies, it also features twice as an anniversary gem, for both the 15th and 40th wedding anniversaries. Although a popular and familiar gemstone, few people know that ruby [...]
August’s birthstone, peridot, is the gem quality variety of the common mineral olivine. In geological terms, olivine is a mantle-mineral, brought to the surface of the earth by volcanic eruptions. In Hawaiian folklore, peridot symbolizes the tears of Pele, the volcano goddess of fire who controls the flow of lava on the islands. Peridot has [...]
When most people think about sapphire, blue is the colour that automatically comes to mind. But did you know that sapphire can be found in virtually every colour of the rainbow? Yes, September’s birthstone truly is a rainbow gemstone. Mineralogically, sapphire is known as corundum (as is ruby) and as the second hardest gemstone on Moh’s Hardness [...]
If opal doesn’t take your fancy, why not consider tourmaline? Available in a wide variety of colours, tourmaline is a semi-precious gem occurring in various shades of almost every hue. Tourmaline is mined in Brazil, Sri Lanka, Nigeria, Mozambique, Madagascar, Afghanistan, Pakistan and the U.S.A. Paraíba tourmaline is a vividly colored purplish or greenish blue variety found in [...]
