Different societies have different traditions when it comes to birthstones, which is why there are so many inconsistencies as to which are the “correct” stones for each month. Some cultures follow the traditional birthstones associated with the Gregorian calendar. Others believe in mystical birthstones, which are Tibetan in origin and date back over one thousand years. Ayurvedic birthstone lists come from ancient Indian medicinal and philosophic traditions from 1500 BCE. In Babylon, birthstones were based on the Zodiac and were thought to have magical properties.
A pamphlet published by Tiffany and Co. in 1870 gives a list of birthstone colors that are generally accepted:
January- garnet
February- amethyst
March- bloodstone
April- diamond
May- emerald
June- pearls
July- ruby
August – peridot
September- sapphire
October- opal
November- topaz
December- turquoise
I have been spending a lot of time being completely frustrated. Working on the computer is both necessary and enjoyable–like working on the websites, Photoshop, databases, bookkeeping, and writing articles. I even play games! However, almost every time I get really engrossed in a project, I look at my legs and they are swollen like weather balloons. ( I hope the weather service does not read this. They might figure out a way to use me as a substitute for their balloons.) When my legs swell up, the only remedy is to get my feet higher than my heart. They can be swollen for days or weeks. Meanwhile, my projects just sit there waiting for me to get upright again and I feel guilty for not getting things done. So, I lie in the recliner chair and feel sorry for myself.
“Let me see your MacBook Pro for a minute,” I asked my daughter yesterday. “What are you up to, Mom,” she asked. I put her five pound light power book on my stomach, opened the screen, pulled up my project and started working on it. However, after a while it did get heavy and I got tired.
“Have you seen those new airbooks? I asked her. “I wonder what they weigh and if they get hot on the bottom.”
“I can see the wheels turning in your head. What are you up to?” she responded. “Is it legal?”
“I think they have the new MacBook Airs at the university computer store,” I responded. “Let’s go see.” I came home with a 13″ MacBook air weighing a little more than two pounds and seated myself in the recliner again. Laying back with my feet up. I placed it on a pillow and began working away! I don’t call it a MacBook. I named it Skinny Minnie and designated it a “tummy computer” instead of a “laptop.”
People laugh at my set up. I don’t mind. It is just one more thing I can laugh about and keep my sense of humor about my inconvenient disabilities. When you laugh about things you can’t change, you can’t cry–and the whole world looks brighter! Laughter is a wonderful thing. It brightens the world just like my handcrafted Gemstone Creations.
When my sister graduated from college, my parents were so proud. She was always studious, but they really wanted to offer her something on her special day that acknowledged how much they admired her hard work over the last four years. Rather than going the traditional route and giving her something extravagant like a car or writing her a sizable check, they went a more sentimental route. They gave my sister our mother’s garnet earrings.
My sister’s birthstone is garnet, and she has always loved those fashion earrings. They were originally our grandmother’s, and she gave them to our mother on the day she got married. Passing them down, my sister officially became the third generation to enjoy the elegance and beauty of those stunning earrings. Every time I see my sister, she is wearing those earrings, and they look beautiful on her. I can tell she is reminded of how much my parents think of her every time she wears them.
APPROXIMATE GEMSTONE VALUES FOR A CLICK (OR TWO)!
In determining real gemstone values for unique gemstone rings, pendants or earrings, absolutely nothing can take the place of a expert human being eye-balling the gemstone in question. When this information is not reasonably available, there are ways of establishing probable values of the stone you are interested in (+ or – 10% to 15%).
A Google search will guide you to all kinds of confusing sites regarding gem evaluation. Most offer the services of a gemologist. Some offer information about what to look for in doing an evaluation. But I have found one service to be very useful and dependable: www.gemval.com.
This group of gemologists use various factors about the stone you are concerned with, such as carat weight, color, clarity, cut and shape to determine the gem’s value. The website is www.gemval.com. Be cautioned, its accuracy depends on the accuracy of the information that the user feeds to the program.
GemVal Guide to Gemstone Prices Sep 1, 2010 … Online guide to gemstone prices for industry professionals. Gemstone current market values, pricing charts and trends, free online appraisals…
If you read the reactions of users to the data from this site you will find it is generally very favorable. The site also offers other information about the gem, such as, refractive index, specific gravity, hardness on Koh scale, etc. Of course, any subjective process working with statistical data and probabilities such as GemVal does cannot be 100% perfect. But it has a good track record.
In the gem data offered by Gemstone Creations, we use GemVal as the appraisal price. But we point out that it is an approximation. We also add a disclaimer to each of our sales stating that we are not gemologists and we state the source of our gem data. If we make an error (heaven forbid!) as an honest seller, we are anxious to satisfy the customer. Our contact info is available on the website as well as instructions for returning unsatisfactory merchandise.
I reached my limit on words! Stay turned for more information on gemstones, their origin, value, care and treatment. Be sure and visit our website often. Our merchandise changes constantly. All items are one of a kind and sell out quickly.
How can you tell if a gemstone is real or not? I have already told you that the most obvious characteristic–color– is of no help! But there are other clues.
Pay attention to the language used to describe the gem. If the stone is described as natural, you know that Mother Nature has taken eons of time to create the beautiful gem inside the rock in the earth. It took primitive man a long time to learn to mine it and to figure out the characteristics that would mark the stone as valuable. But with a pick ax and a shovel, primitive man learned to get and to value the shining rock in his hand.
Today, if the stone is described as simulated, it has the looks of the gemstone, but none of its valuable mineral properties. It could be made out of anything from glass to bits of other natural gemstones. But it is just a look-alike! Much of the costume or fashion jewelry worn today uses simulated stones. They are sometimes very beautiful—-and a lot less expensive!
If the stone is described as synthetic, you have a real treasure! These stones have the same color (or sometimes better color) as the natural ones. They have the same chemical makeup. They have the same visual and refractive characteristics. They have the same specific gravity. In every way they are the same as the natural stone–except in two ways–length of time needed for them to grow and the price you pay. Because of these factors, many well known designers use as many synthetic stones as natural ones. In almost any jewelry store today you will see as many synthetic stones as natural ones.
Simulated and Synthetic! These are the two “S” you need to be aware of in selecting jewelry for your treasure chest! There is one more thing that you need to know before you go shopping. Whoops! I am writing too much again, so I will tell you about this in the next blog!
BE CAREFUL! If you are buying a TV or a washing machine it is easy to compare models, etc. and make good value decisions. But very few of us have the knowledge to make that kind of decision about gemstones. Sadly to say, both on the internet and behind store front windows there is a multitude of corrupt merchants who will smilingly take your money without giving you fair value. There is also a multitude of very honest merchants. I wish I could always tell the difference!
The best defense the customer has is the appraisal services of a skillful independent appraiser. Never buy an expensive piece of jewelry without this! Honest merchants will encourage you to seek this service.
An appraiser is a gemologist who has invested a fortune in instruments that measure various properties of natural gemstones and years in studying what to look for in identifying gems. His services are usually expensive, but worth the investment. There is nothing more heart breaking to discover that the beautiful unique gemstone ring you emptied your piggy bank to buy is nothing more than a piece of bottle glass!
I craft the jewelry pieces for Gemstone Creations. I am fascinated by gemology and have invested time and money into the purchase of a microscope and many other instruments to help me identify gems. I spend a lot of time studying the characteristics of gems, so that someday I will be a gemologist. But that time has not yet come, so I have found a substitute way to identify the probable value of a gemstone.
I have used up my word limit for this blog, so in the next one I will tell you all about this valuable resource. It is available to everyone and is just a few clicks away. Stay tuned . . . . .
I wish that we were all millionaires, but I certainly am not and probably you aren’t either! What is that old saying–a champagne taste and a beer pocketbook–That is me!
I look at beautiful gemstones–large, bright, with few inclusions, perfectly shaped and perfectly cut– and tell myself I would love to make a ring from this stone. But then I look at the price tag and quickly compute what I would have to sell the finished ring for in order to break even and I put the beautiful gem back!
But there is a way I can eat my cake and have it, too! That’s right–use the synthetic gemstones that have been expertly grown in a lab. In fact, not many of us can afford to wear large natural gemstones because of their high price.
A good lab grown gem can have all the beauty of its natural counterpart. It is not only beautiful but it is affordable jewelry. Many people even prefer the color and clarity of the synthetic gemstones over that of the natural gemstone. The synthetics have fewer inclusions and are much more durable. Natural emeralds, for instance, are known for their cracks that weaken the stone. Almost all natural emeralds are heat treated in one way or another because of this. Synthetic emeralds, on the other hand, have very few, if any, cracks.
Remember, a synthetic ruby has all the properties that make a ruby a ruby. The gemologist with only a small portion of the natural ruby can grow a gem around the natural seed that will give the new creation all of the properties needed to become a real ruby. The gemologist only requires a fraction of the time needed by Mother Nature to make a beatiful ruby. Therefore, the price is much, much lower.
Another thing you need to remember when you are making a decision between the two–natural or synthetic–is that no natural gemstone is fault free. The foreign materials that were caught up in Mother Nature’s procedures causes weaknesses that must be dealt with. There are very few natural gems that are pure enough not to need some form of treatment to compensate for these weaknesses.
So when you are making choices, remember that synthetics are real, too! And they are cheaper!
In the last blog I told you not to count on color to identify the authenticity of that gemstone you have been admiring. Pay attention to the language that is used to describe the stone. If the stone is described as natural, Mother Nature took eons of time to create the beautiful gem in the rock of the earth. It took man a long time to identify the characteristics that would identify the stone.
If the stone is described as simulated, it has the looks of the gemstone, but none of its valuable characteristics. It could be made out of anything from glass or plastic to bits of other natural gemstones. But it is just a look-alike! Much of what is worn as fashion jewelry today uses simulated stones. They are sometimes very beautiful—-and a lot less expensive!
If the stone is described as synthetic, you have a real treasure! These stones have the same color (or sometimes better color) as natural ones. They have the same chemical makeup. They have the same visual and refractive characteristics. They have the same specific gravity. In every way they are the same as the natural stone–except in two ways–the shorter time the laboratory needed for the gems to mature, and consequently, the price you pay. Because of these two factors, many well known jewelry designers use as many synthetic stones as natural ones. Look at the showcases of almost any of today’s jewelry stores. You will see as many synthetic stones as natural ones. Some of them are really prettier than their natural counterparts, and all are cheaper.
Whoops! There I go again, writing too much. So next time I will tell you the one other thing you need to know before you go jewelry shopping! Till we meet again…….
Have you ever wondered whether that trendy jewelry bought at a flee market was real or just a look-alike? I did , too. That is until recently, when after much study and learning the things I needed to know, I acquired instruments that would help me answer that question. With much sadness I found that I could no longer claim that the big green stone ring on my right finger was real! What a disappointment! Of course, you would not be expected to buy the instruments, do the study, etc. to identify the gemstone the way I did. I am fascinated by gemology. But there are other hints that can help you.
First, color is no help. There is no color difference in a garnet and a ruby, or an amethyst and an iolite. When you are only given color differences as the gem identifier watch out! Even the most experienced jeweler can be fooled this way.
My daughter told me that I write too much. So, I am going to please her and stop right here. The next blog that I write will tell you how to be more comfortable in buying gemstone jewelry. So keep tuned in–we will be back very soon. Same time and same place! Meanwhile look at the the beautiful things we have put on the websites.
Yes, really! Back before man populated the Earth, flaming meteors whipped into our planet, blasting giant holes in the Earth, creating volcanoes and other violations of the planet’s surface. In the centuries that followed, volcanoes released steaming, molten streams of a hauntingly beautiful lime green substance. As modern excavators explored ancient meteor sites the same material was seen as a part of a meteor. Today, we call this beautiful material ” peridot.” It was found first in Russia where meteorites collided with earth. Yes, Earth really does has gemstones from outer space!
Peridot was found in many ancient cultures. It was found in Egyptian jewelry as early as the 2nd millennium BC. Archaelogists found the probable source of these jewels at mine sites long exhausted on a volcanic island in the Red Sea about 45 miles off the coast of Aswan.
Peridot is the official birthstone for August. It is an appropriate gift for a 16th wedding anniversary. It is the stone for the Zodiac sign of Libra! References to it as chrysolite, and “evening emeralds” are found throughout ancient literature and art. The fabled breastplates of the Hebrew high priests were decorated with peridot. In the Bible it is called “pisdah.” The Romans breastplates were also decorated with peridot. It is believed that many of Cleopatra’s “emeralds” were really peridot! Do you suppose Mark Anthony gave them to her? We know that Napoleon gave peridot gems to Josephine as a token of his undying love! Would you like to visit a beach where the sand is peridot? Stay tuned and I will tell you where!
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