Garnet
January
This is the birthstone for January and comes in a wide variety of colors. Rhodolite is raspberry reddish, Spessartite is orange, and Tsavorite is green, to name a few.
A Cutting Edge – Gallery of Jewelry has the largest selection of mountings, diamonds, and colored gemstones in the area. We specialize in the finest natural stones the world has to offer.
This is the birthstone for January and comes in a wide variety of colors. Rhodolite is raspberry reddish, Spessartite is orange, and Tsavorite is green, to name a few.
This beautiful gemstone which is May’s birthstone can be one of the most sought after. The element that gives them their incomparable green color is chromium.
This gemstone was only very recently added as a birthstone for August. The spinel is mostly seen in its magenta pink color, but also can be found in blue, red, violet, and purple, to name a few.
Traditionally the imperial topaz is the birthstone for November, but it also comes in several other colors, including yellow, orange, red-brown, pink-red, red, violet, dark green, and most widely available, light to dark blue.
This stone is not as well-known as some, but it sure has a large impact! It can show an intensive fire, in which you see red, orange, and yellow flashes.
February’s birthstone is the most highly valued gemstone in the quartz family. Historically, it was a favorite gemstone of officials and royalty, as the deep purple color symbolized status and wealth.
June’s birthstone can be one of the rarest and most valuable gemstones. The Alexandrite is a color-change stone that is green in artificial light and raspberry red in incandescent light. It is named after Czar Alexander II. (June has an alternate birthstone, which is the pearl. Natural Alexandrite can be difficult to find in the retail marketplace.)
September’s birthstone is probably one of the most well-known gemstones. Typically it is thought of as a royal blue stone but comes in all colors except red. When corundum is red, it is a ruby!
The traditional birthstone for December is the zircon. Zircon is the oldest mineral on Earth and has been used in jewelry for many, many years.
This deep violet stone is not a birthstone but has some interesting legends surrounding it. Some say that Vikings used this stone to locate the sun on cloudy days, as they navigated their ships on the oceans.
This gemstone is March’s birthstone and its name means “color of the sea.” Its color can range from a near-colorless pale blue to a deep ocean blue-green.
This gemstone is July’s birthstone and is part of the corundum species. They are essentially sapphires but are called ruby when they are red.
The modern birthstone of October is the tourmaline, which is another gemstone that comes in a variety of colors. Most frequently thought of as pink for birthstone use, but comes in varying shades of pink, red, green, blue and can be multicolored.
This modern birthstone for December is one of the newest gemstones in the marketplace. The only deposit known is in Tanzania, (hence the name) near Mount Kilimanjaro. It is a dark blue-purple to violet stone.
This stone is related to emerald and aquamarine, as it is in the beryl family. It’s named after famous banker J.P. Morgan, as he funded the expedition that first discovered this stone. It has gained in popularity recently as an alternative for engagement rings.
April’s birthstone gets its name from the Greek word Adamas, which means “unconquerable”. The diamond is the highest-ranking (10) on the Moh’s scale which measures the hardness or durability of a stone.
August’s classic birthstone probably derives its name from the Arabic word faridat, which means gem. Its color ranges from yellow-green to olive green.
This unique stone is the traditional birthstone for October. They get their uniqueness from their “play-of-color” which shows a rainbow of colors and hues. Opals do rank a 5 ½ to 6 ½ on the Mohs scale, so special care must be taken when wearing and storing.
Its mineralogical name is aventurine feldspar, and this stone has tiny flecks of hematite or goethite platelets, which typically cause a red glitter phenomenon.
This is another bi-color stone. It is part of the quartz family and part amethyst, part citrine!
