If you were born in the month of June, pearls are your lucky birthstone. The French word perle, which means lead, is where the name pearl first appeared. This describes how a mollusc shell’s legs are shaped.
Because mollusks, which are living animals, generate pearls, they are gemstones rather than minerals. If there is a nucleus to start withsometimes just a single grain of sanda mollusk will make a pearl. The mollusk will then gradually build several layers of calcium carbonate around that sand grain. Actually, the mollusc does this because the grain irritates it, and attaching a smooth coating on it helps to soothe the irritation.
The majority of pearls you can buy today are actually cultivated pearls, which are created artificially in pearl farms by injecting an irritant into the mollusk’s shell. The Philippines, Australia, Indonesia, and southern China are the main sources of pearls.
In This Article...
Do all birthstones contain minerals?
We collect rocks and minerals because we have a basic human need to own and wear things that we consider to be “holy” or extraordinary. This may help to explain the allure of birthstones and how compelling it can be to have our month of birth symbolized by a stunning natural gemstone. We may be the proud owners of our unique stone and enjoy admiring it for what it is. We hope you enjoy learning about the history, myths, and birthstones.
Difference between minerals and gems
Although all birthstones are made of minerals, why are certain of them valued as gems? Interestingly, the term “gem” doesn’t have a geological definition because a gem is a product of human creativity. Geologic processes in rocks in their natural environment cause minerals to develop. Gems are created when precious and semiprecious stones are extracted, shaped, and polished. A diamond becomes a jewel when it is put into metal and worn on the body.
The following criteria are important in determining a gem’s value: A mineral must possess the following qualities: scarcity, toughness, aesthetic appeal, size, and color.
Is the birthstone for July a mineral?
One of the known hardest minerals is ruby.
It is only softer than a diamond on the Mohs scale, where it rates a 9 out of 10.
Rubies are prized for their stunning red hue.
A variant of the mineral corundum is a ruby.
With the exception of red, the gemstone sapphire is a type of corundum and is available in a variety of hues.
Rubies are shiny because of their glassy sheen.
The most typical gemstone used in jewelry is ruby.
Myanmar, Thailand, Kenya, the United States, Sri Lanka, and Tanzania are among the countries that frequently mine rubies.
One of the largest jewels discovered to date, a 440 carat ruby was found in 2005.
Sapphire: a birthstone or not?
The sapphire gem, which has been prized for thousands of years, is the birthstone for September. The term sapphire typically refers to the blue variation of corundum, whereas ruby is the red version, but this birthstone is available in a wide range of different hues. “Sapphire derives from the Greek word sappheiros, and blue sapphire is one of the most popular colored stones. Sapphires have long been connected with monarchy and romance. They are also thought to represent fidelity and the soul. Continue reading to find out more about the September birthstone, including its origins and locations.
What gemstone symbolizes September?
Although the term “sapphire” is usually used to describe the deep blue gemstone variation of the mineral corundum, this regal gemstone is really found in a variety of colors. Every hue except red, which is classified as a ruby, is available in sapphires.
Granit is it a mineral?
Minerals called garnets can be found as single crystals, pebbles, or clumps of intergrown crystals. They are opaque, transparent to translucent minerals. The reddish hues of garnets are the ones that are most frequently found, although they can also be orange, yellow, green, purple, brown, blue, black, pink, and colorless. There are very few blue garnets. The crystals can occasionally have layers of contrasting lighter and darker colors.
Aquamarine: a mineral or not?
Although some jeweler’s charts mention bloodstone as an alternative, aquamarine has long been considered the traditional birthstone for the month of March. The blue hues of aquamarine range from light blue to yellowish blue. Beryl, a Beryllium Aluminum Silicate mineral with the standard chemical formula Be3Al2, is the source of aquamarine (Si16O18). Beryl has an imperfect cleavage, a vitreous luster, and crystallizes in a hexagonal system with a hardness range of 7 1/2 to 8. Beryl has a refractive index that varies between around 1.57 and 1.58 or between 1.58 and 1.59, is uniaxially negative optically, and certain specimens may be severely diachronic.
The beryl types emerald (blue green to green), goshenite (colorless), morganite (pink to violet), and heliodor, or golden beryl, have also been used as stones. A red beryl from Utah is also present.
Mica, hematite, and tubes and hoses filled with liquid (typically saline water) are possible inclusions in aquamarine. The crystals can explode or suffer severe fractures if they overheat, and the liquid can expand significantly as a result.
Numerous additional substances, including aquamarine tourmaline, aquamarine emerald, aquamarine chrysolite, aquamarine sapphire, aquamarine topaz, etc., have been given the name aquamarine as a modifier.
A type of triplet stone with two layers of mostly aquamarine or occasionally colorless beryl that are adhered together with a green cement to give the appearance of a true emerald is known as a “Aquamarine Emerald” and is a registered trade name. Magnification will help you see the wavy cement flow lines, and submerging the stone in water will help you see the various layers that make up the stone, which may be difficult to see by refractive index alone.
The term “aquamarine glass” refers to glass that is light to medium blue and may or may not contain beryl.
The term “aquamarine” has also been used to describe the ocean, the sky, various GM vehicles, and other light to medium blue things.
Madagascar, Russia, and Sri Lanka are among the Old World sources of aquamarine, whereas Brazil, Colorado, and North Carolina are among the New World sources.
While emerald crystals are frequently blunted along the c-axis, aquamarine crystals are frequently extended along this axis. Due to this, the former may appear like a wand or a pencil, while the latter may look like a barrel.
Geologists refer to an extremely coarse-grained rock known as pegmatite as the source of most gem beryl. Pegmatite are the late stage vocatives that crystallize in hydrothermal deposits and are created late in the magmatic history of an igneous terrace. Beryl crystals can frequently grow to be rather enormous, with some measuring more than 25 feet along the c-axis.
Some aquamarines can make a lovely eye and are chatoyant. None of the publications I’ve looked at mention asteriated aquamarines.
The majority of man-made aquamarines are actually spinel. When beryl is processed using flux-fusion techniques, a glass rather than a crystal is produced, albeit the colors can be preserved. In synthetic corundum, light blue is incredibly challenging to create. Some of the hydrothermal methods that are currently used to make diamonds could produce good artificial aquamarines.
An aquamarine alternative is made available under the trademarked brand name Aqua Aura. It is made by covering a quartz crystal or other stone with a thick, virtually monomolecular layer of gold. By vaporizing the gold in a bell and letting it precipitate on the object to be coated, the gold coating is produced. When preparing micro- or nannofossils or micro crystals for imaging in a scanning electron microscope, such coatings are utilized.
Due to its very low refractive index, aquamarine requires a pavilion that is fairly deep and has angles of roughly 43 in order to provide maximum internal reflection. A pavilion that is either too shallow or too deep will make the stone appear empty or dark in the center. Due of the double refraction and low birefringence, emerald-style cuts frequently produce the best results.
Opal: a mineral or not?
Is there a member of your family who wears jewelry with opals in it? Opal is a “gemstone,” which is a mineral prized for its aesthetic appeal. The most popular gemstones to be found in jewelry are diamonds, rubies, emeralds, sapphires, jade, opals, and amethysts. Gems typically acquire their color from specific metals found in the material (for example purple amethyst is quartz containing tiny amounts of iron). Opals, on the other hand, are special because of the rainbow-like display they produce because of their inherent microstructure, which divides white light into all the colors of the spectrum.
A sapphire: a mineral or not?
Both sapphires and rubies are gem variants of the corundum material. They are structurally and chemically identical. Gems typically acquire their color from specific metals or impurities found in the stone. The wide variety of colors observed in corundum diamonds are the result of impurities. Crystals of sapphire and ruby can reach enormous sizes (crystals have been found weighing more than a kilogram). They occasionally have crystal needle inclusions that reflect a six- or twelve-pointed star. These are known as star rubies or sapphires.
Sapphires
Sapphires come in a variety of colors, including green, yellow, blue, orange, black, and pink because they include traces of iron, titanium, and nickel. The most popular gems are blue sapphires, which have a vivid blue to violet color. Blue corundum is what the term “sapphire” denotes when used alone. When a sapphire’s color is not blue, its color is mentioned in the name, such as pink sapphire, yellow sapphire, or green sapphire.
Turquoise: a mineral or not?
the widely used gemstones turquoise, hydrated copper, and aluminum phosphate. It is a secondary mineral that is deposited by flowing streams, and it is most common in dry regions. It appears as blue to greenish, waxy veinlets in worn, volcanic, or sedimentary rocks that are high in alumina.
What birthstone has the rarest stone?
While some birthstones are more accessible than others, precious gemstones in particular are thought to be relatively scarce. However, given that some really expensive stones are not all that rare and vice versa, price tags can be deceiving when it comes to rarity. For instance, although expensive, April’s diamond is less rare than rubies, emeralds, and alexandrite. Speaking of alexandrite, it is now the most expensive and rarest gemstone on the list of birthstones. Additionally extremely rare, black opals are.
Birthstones provide an intriguing way to select jewelry. They enable people to investigate jewels that they might otherwise avoid. However, birthstones are not always what people think they are, so make sure you are buying birthstone jewelry for the right reasons while making your selection.