Gemstones

Moonstone:

Moonstone as a June birthstone, is one of the most popular gemstones available. Its name comes from its looks, it resembles billowy moonlight-like sheen.

Legends say that moonstone brings good luck. Many believed that you could see the future if you held a moonstone in your mouth during a full moon.

What does your future say, do you see yourself having a piece of jewelry with this beautiful gem?

Labradorite:

Labradorite is a November birthstone. Legend has it that the Northern Lights were once stuck inside rocks on the Canadian coast until a brave warrior freed most of them by hitting the rocks with a spear. The rocks that were not hit, still have those Northern Lights within them, the cause of the beautiful iridescent quality labradorite possesses.

 Do you feel that you have a warrior spirit inside you and would like to carry Northern Lights with you wherever you go?

 

Turquoise:

This December birthstone has been cherished for millennia. The pharaohs and other rulers of ancient Egypt adorned themselves with it. Chinese artisans carved it more than 3,000 years ago.
 
The turquoise birthstone was thought to possess many beneficial powers, like guaranteeing health and good fortune. From the 13th century on, it was believed to protect the wearer from falling (especially off horses), and would break into several pieces at the approach of disaster. Hindu mystics maintained that seeing a turquoise after beholding the new moon ensured fantastic wealth.

This December birthstone adorns the funerary mask of King Tut, who ruled Egypt more than 3,000 years ago. It also appears in jewelry belonging to more modern royalty: Duchess of Windsor wore a famous amethyst and turquoise necklace made by Cartier. Turquoise is also the gem of the 11th wedding anniversary.

 Check our Turquoise collection and adorn yourself as a pharaoh would.

 Lapis Lazuli:

Historians believe the link between humans and lapis lazuli stretches back more than 6,500 years. The gem was treasured by the ancient civilizations of Mesopotamia, Egypt, China, Greece, and Rome. They valued it for its vivid, exquisite color, and prized it as much as they prized other blue gems like sapphire and turquoise.

Historically, Lapis Lazuli was also thought to have been ground down into powder to make eyeshadow and medicinal elixirs. The famous Italian painter and sculptor, Michelangelo, used ground Lapis Lazuli to produce an ultramarine colored pigment for some of his paintings during the Renaissance period.

 With the stone this important and with such deep history, who would not want to caress oneself with this beauty of a gem? Check our Lapis Lazuli collection and let our jewelry take you on adventure.

 

Ruby:

Ruby is the birthstone for July and the gem for the 15th and 40th anniversaries. Red is the color of our most intense emotions—love and anger, passion and fury. It’s associated with objects of power and desire—like fast cars and red roses. Early cultures treasured rubies for their similarity to the redness of the blood that flowed through their veins, and believed that rubies held the power of life.

Ruby is one of the most historically significant colored stones. Rubies are mentioned four times in the Bible, in association with attributes like beauty and wisdom. In the ancient language of Sanskrit, ruby is called ratnaraj, or “king of precious stones.”

 Desire for ruby is just as great today as it always has been. As a symbol of passion, ruby makes an ideal romantic gift. Consumers are drawn to the lush color because it also signifies wealth and success.

 Check out our ruby collection, for more information feel free to contact us.

 

Blue Topaz:

Most authorities agree that the name topaz comes from Topazios, the old Greek name for a small island in the Red Sea, now called Zabargad. (The island never produced topaz, but it was once a source of peridot, which was confused with topaz before the development of modern mineralogy.) Some scholars trace the origin back to Sanskrit (an ancient language of India) and the word topas or tapaz, meaning “fire.”

The ancient Greeks believed that topaz gave them strength. In Europe during the Renaissance (the period from the 1300s to the 1600s) people thought that topaz could break magic spells and dispel anger. For centuries, many people in India have believed that topaz worn above the heart assures long life, beauty, and intelligence.

The name for imperial topaz originated in nineteenth-century Russia. At the time, the Ural Mountains were topaz’s leading source, and the pink gemstone mined there was named to honor the Russian czar. Ownership of the gem was restricted to the royal family.

Today, topaz is one of the US birthstones for November. This stone is reminiscing of beautiful summer days by the coast, don´t you think?

 

Prasiolite:

 Also known in the trade as green amethyst, Prasiolite was first discovered in the early 1800’s in Silesia, Poland. The name “Prasiolite'' was given after the Greek word meaning “leek” (in reference to its color). Since then, nearly all of the Prasiolite on the market comes out of the Minas Gerais region of Brazil. The colors from this region can range from translucent to a dark green.

 If you like something that is lighter in color, this is a perfect gemstone for you!

 

Garnet:

Thousands of years ago, red garnet necklaces adorned the necks of Egypt’s pharaohs, and were entombed with their mummified corpses as prized possessions for the afterlife. In ancient Rome, signet rings with carved garnets were used to stamp the wax that secured important documents.

The term carbuncle was often used in ancient times to refer to red garnets, although it was used for almost any red stone. Carbuncle was thought to be one of the four precious stones given to King Solomon by God.

 

Garnet is the birthstone for January and the gem for the second anniversary.

 

Carnelian:

Romans believed that the different colours of the stone represent the sexes; dark symbolises man, and light symbolises woman. When Carnelian grades into brown it is referred to as Sard. When it is a stronger white colour it is referred to as Sardonyx, and if the gem is extremely dark it can be called Jasper.

Carnelian is surrounded in myth and legend. It was believed by some that it stops bleeding and heals wounds. Egyptians thought that the gem had strong powers in the afterlife and would help to make people feel calm about death: in an excavation site uncovering the tomb of a Sumerian Queen from the third millennium BC, a robe has been discovered encrusted with the gem; presumably for this reason. They also believed that amulets of Carnelian could help the soul’s journey into the next life.

 

With all this “scary” information above, this stone still reminds us of candy, especially when it is incorporated in our sweet jewelry, pun intended.

 

Hematite:

Hematite has been used in magic for over 3000 years now. In ancient Babylon, it was carried by warriors for strength to overcome enemies, and was believed to help cause stone walls to fall. In the middle ages, hematite acted as a farmer’s talisman and was worn in the belief that the stone strengthened their crops. In the 13th Century, hematite was engraved with a figure of a bat and then worn by magicians who believed it strengthened their spells.The name hematite comes from the Greek word haima, or ema, meaning ‘blood,’ as it shows a blood red color when cut into thin slices. As such, hematite is also called ‘bloodstone.’

 

Chalcedony:

The stone was meant to improve the art of speech for Roman people. This is why it is said that the orator Cicero would have worn one around his neck.

In the antique Greek tradition, the chalcedony was the stone of mother earth, the Gaia goddess.

The name of this stone comes from the Greek and Byzantine city named Chalcedony.

 

Amethyst:

Because of its wine-like color, early Greek legends associated amethyst with Bacchus, the god of wine. Other legends reflected beliefs that amethyst kept its wearer clear-headed and quick-witted in battle and in business affairs. Because amethyst was associated with wine, it was believed that wearing amethyst prevented drunkeness.


Amethyst is the birthstone for February and one of the emblems of the twelve apostles.

 

Well, if it helps with drunkenness, it is perfect stone for celebrations, right?

 

Citrine:

Along with topaz, citrine is a birthstone for November. It’s also recognized as the gem that commemorates the thirteenth anniversary.

This November birthstone is the transparent yellow to brownish orange variety of quartz, which has been used in jewelry for thousands of years. Citrine has been a popular gemstone since ancient times and has shared a history of mistaken identities with the other November birthstone, topaz. As a result, people thought citrine had the same powers as topaz. They believed the citrine birthstone could soothe tempers and calm the wearer.

The ancient Greeks carved rock crystal ornaments that glistened like permafrost. Roman pontiffs wore rings set with massive purple amethysts, and citrine has been reported in Roman jewelry. It was particularly popular in colorful Scottish jewelry from the Victorian era. Citrine, believed to derive from the French word for “lemon” (citron), is given for the thirteenth wedding anniversary.

 

Mystic Topaz:

Mystic Topaz is quite a new gem type, first seen around 1998. It is natural colorless (white) topaz that has been coated, giving it a unique rainbow color effect. It is not a gem type on its own, but rather considered an enhanced or treated colorless topaz.

We love the various colors in this gem, it is hypnotizing, what do you think?

 

Peridot:

Peridot has always been associated with light. In fact, the Egyptians called it the “gem of the sun.” Some believed that it protected its owner from “terrors of the night,” especially when it was set in gold. Others strung the gems on donkey hair and tied them around their left arms to ward off evil spirits.

The word peridot comes from the Arabic “faridat,” which means “gem.” Most peridot formed deep inside the earth and was delivered to the surface by volcanoes. Some also came to earth in meteorites, but this extraterrestrial peridot is extremely rare, and not likely to be seen in a retail jewelry store.

Early records indicate that the ancient Egyptians mined a beautiful green gem on an island in the Red Sea called Topazios, now known as St. John’s Island or Zabargad. Legend has it that the island was infested with snakes, making mining unpleasant until an enterprising pharaoh drove them into the sea. From the earliest times, people confused this stone—now known to be peridot—with other gems. It was one of many labeled as “topaz.”

Some historians believe that Cleopatra’s famous emerald collection might actually have been peridot. People in medieval times continued to confuse peridot with emerald. For centuries, people believed the fabulous 200-ct. gems adorning the shrine of the Three Holy Kings in Germany’s Cologne Cathedral were emeralds. They are, in fact, peridots.

 

Emerald:

As the gem of spring, emerald is the perfect choice as the birthstone for the month May. It’s also the gem of the twentieth and thirty-fifth wedding anniversaries.

Emerald is the most famous member of the beryl family. Legends endowed the wearer with the ability to foresee the future when emerald was placed under the tongue, as well as to reveal truth and be protected against evil spells. Emerald was once also believed to cure diseases like cholera and malaria. Wearing an emerald was believed to reveal the truth or falseness of a lover’s oath as well as make one an eloquent speaker.

Legend also states that emerald was one of the four precious stones given by God to King Solomon. These four stones were said to have endowed the king with power over all creation.

The first known emerald mines were in Egypt, dating from at least 330 BC into the 1700s. Cleopatra was known to have a passion for emerald, and used it in her royal adornments.

 

Onyx:

The myth of the origin of onyx says that the goddess Venus was resting on the banks of the Indus River. As she slept, Cupid used the point of one of his enchanted arrows to give her a manicure. The parings of her nails then fell into the waters of the sacred river. Since the nails were of heavenly origin, they sank to the river bottom and were metamorphosed into onyx.

 

We will be adding more gemstones and more information here as our offer of the gemstones widen. For additional info please do not hesitate to contact us.