Delve into a world of colourful gemstones and gain a little knowledge about the most popular gemstones used in jewellery today.
Garnets come in many colours from olive green Demantoid to purple Rhodolite, and orange Spessartine. The most popular colour of a garnet used in contemporary jewellery is a rich red which come mainly from African countries, also from India, Russia, Central and South America.
Purple has long been considered a royal colour so it is not surprising that amethyst has been so much in demand during history. Amethyst, transparent purple quartz, is the most important quartz variety used in jewellery. Leonardo Da Vinci wrote that amethyst was able to dissipate evil thoughts and quicken the intelligence.
From the light blue of the sky to the deep blue of the sea, aquamarines shine over an extraordinarily beautiful range of mainly light blue colours. Aquamarine is a fascinatingly beautiful gemstone. Its light blue arouses feelings of sympathy, trust, harmony and friendship. Its name is derived from the Latin aqua (water) and mare (sea). Brazil is among the countries where aquamarine is found.
"Diamonds are forever” is the phrase Debeers use to promote diamonds, as a diamond is the hardest and oldest natural object you’ll ever own. Diamond is considered the King of Gems; and is traditionally used in an engagement ring and for the 75th wedding anniversary.
Diamond is formed in the earth's interior and shot to the surface by one of the most powerful forces on earth, the volcano. The
quality of a diamond is determined by its clarity, colour, carat and cut. But its true beauty is in the eye of the beholder!
Emeralds are fascinating gemstones. They have the most beautiful, most intense and most radiant green that can possibly be imagined, conveying harmony, love of nature and elemental joie de vivre. Written many centuries ago, the Vedas (holy Indian scriptures), talk of emeralds and their healing properties. So it was no wonder that the treasure chests of Indian maharajas and maharanis contained wonderful emeralds.
Pearls are an organic gem, created when an oyster covers a foreign object with beautiful layers of nacre. Long ago, pearls were important financial assets, as thousands of oysters had to be searched for only one pearl. Today, pearls are cultured by man: shell beads are placed inside an oyster and the oyster is returned to the water. When the pearls are later harvested, the oyster has covered the bead with layers of nacre. Most cultured pearls are produced in Japan. In the warmer waters of the South Pacific, larger oysters produce South Sea cultured pearls and Tahitian black cultured pearls. Freshwater pearls are cultured in freshwater mussels, mostly in China.
Moonstone shows an almost magical play of light as its characteristic feature. It owes its name to this mysterious gleaming which appears different whenever the stone changes its position in movement. Experts call this the “adularescence”, and in earlier times the phases of waxing and waning moon were thought to be discerned in this phenomenon.
Many mystical and magical connotations surround this stone. In several cultures, like for example in India, Moonstone is considered a sacred and magical gemstone.
The colour red is spontaneously associated with love and vividness, passion and power. Red is also the colour of Ruby, the “King” of gemstones. For thousands of years Ruby has been considered as one of the most valuable gemstones of our Earth. It has got all it takes for a precious stone: a wonderful colour, excellent hardness and an overwhelming brilliance.
Ruby is the red variety of the corundum mineral, one of the hardest minerals on Earth which also includes Sapphire.
The vivid, slightly golden shimmering green of Peridot is the ideal gemstone colour to complement a light summertime outfit. Peridot is an ancient and yet currently very popular gemstone. It is so old that it can be found even in Egyptian jewellery from the early second millennium BC.
The stones used in those days came from an occurrence on a little volcanic island in the Red Sea, which was rediscovered only around 1900 and has been completely exploited since.
Sapphires exist in all the shades of blue skies, from the deep blue of evening skies to the bright and deep blue of a clear and beautiful summer sky. Blue is strongly associated with emotions such as sympathy and harmony, friendship and loyalty. Sapphire blue has thus become a colour related to anything permanent and reliable, and is one of the reasons why women in many countries settle on Sapphire for their engagement rings.
Tourmalines are precious stones displaying a unique splendour of colours. According to an ancient Egyptian legend this is the result of the fact that on the long way from the Earth’s heart up towards the sun, Tourmaline travelled along a rainbow. This is why nowadays it is called the "Rainbow gemstone”.
Tourmaline is supposed to be an especially powerful influence on love and friendship, lending them permanence and stability.
The Egyptians said that topaz was collared with the golden glow of the mighty sun god Ra. This made topaz a very powerful amulet that protected the faithful against harm. The Romans associated topaz with Jupiter, who also is the god of the sun. Topaz sometimes has the amber gold of fine cognac or the blush of a peach and all the beautiful warm browns and oranges in between. Some rare and exceptional topazes are pale pink to a sherry red. Wear topaz only if you wish to be clear-sighted: legend has it that it dispels all enchantment and helps to improve eyesight as well!
Turquoise is an ancient gemstone, yet it always at the height of current fashion. In many cultures of the Old and New World this gemstone has for thousands of years been appreciated as a holy stone, a good-luck-charm or a talisman. The oldest proof for this lies in Egypt, where in tombs from the period around 3000 B.C. there were found artefacts set with Turquoise.
Turquoises were loved as ornaments decorating turbans, often set in a border of pearls, in order to protect the wearer from the "evil eye. Turquoise came to Europe only during the time of the crusades. And from this period comes the name "Turquoise”, meaning simply "Turkish stone”.