For years now my grandmother and I have met every week for a visit: dinner and scrabble. It’s our tradition. I always stop for fried chicken along the way. It’s wonderful.

This week, after a very close game of scrabble, grandmother suggested we look at her “old” jewelry (she knows I love jewelry). She left the kitchen, returning with a small, marvelously embroidered jewelry box. Delicate, the small jewelry box looked like it held little jewelry.

What a surprise! Grandma’s jewelry box overflowed with gems: amethyst jewelry, CZ, peridot and ruby jewelry, sapphire and turquoise jewelry, pearl, garnet and quartz jewelry. I could go on and on.

It was a jewelry treasure trove! A magic pit of jewelry! Blackbeard’s jewelry booty! Every time I thought the jewelry box empty, grandmother lifted another gemstone, another dazzling specimen.

Grandmother had a story for every brooch and necklace, every bracelet, every set of earrings. We retraced her life through that jewelry. It was beautiful.

We spent hours over that jewelry box, talking and laughing. As I was leaving, I kissed my grandmother’s a cheek as I always do. Before I turned around, she grabbed my hand. From behind her back emerged the jewelry box. ‘I want you to have the jewelry box dear, and don’t say no,’ she pushed the jewelry box into my hands, ‘just remember.’

I was weepy all the way home. I’ve put grandma’s story, her jewelry box, on my mantle where I see it everyday…..remembering.

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Celebrate each season with its associated gemstones. This is another great way to select a gift or your own gemstone jewelry!

Spring Gems

Known as the gem of eternal spring and youth, the vibrant green emerald is the perfect springtime gemstone. This gem has long been known as a symbol of love and rebirth. Other gorgeous representations of spring include amethyst, pink topaz and peridot.

Summer Gems

Symbolizing passion and heat, the fiery red ruby is an ideal summer gemstone choice. The ruby is the birthstone for the month of July and is known as the “king of precious stones”. Summer’s bounty and heat is also well represented in the garnet, zircon and alexandrite.

Autumn Gems

Autumn is a time of harvest. The blue fall sky and the hope that new harvest brings is embodied in the bright sapphire gemstone. Hyacinth, topaz and tourmaline are also excellent choices for fall gemstone selection.

Winter Gems

Wintertime sparkles with the classic diamond gemstone. Bright and full of light, the diamond symbolizes ice and snow. Other fine choices are the winter gemstones turquoise and pearl.

Although most sapphires are blue, there are also pink sapphires, yellow sapphires, orange sapphires white sapphires, purple sapphires as well as rare star sapphires and Padparadsha sapphires.  Sapphires are highly valuable, fancy stones.  In fact, sapphires are so treasured that Prince Charles himself presented Princess Diana with a Sapphire upon their engagement.

About Sapphires

Sapphires belong to the corundum group.  This makes sapphires different from other gemstones because they’re extremely hard, registering at a grade 9 on the Mohs’ scale. Diamonds, the earth’s hardest mineral, are the only gemstones harder then sapphires.  Sapphires hardness makes them a practical and easy to care for gemstone. 

The corundum group consists of pure aluminum oxide.  The pressure and heat of the ground causes this aluminum oxide to crystallize into beautiful white gemstones.   Tiny amounts of other minerals such as iron and chrome give sapphires their blue, red, yellow, pink or greenish color.

Rubies are also part of the corundum group.  For years experts debated what constituted sapphires until it was decided that ruby-red sapphires would be “Rubies” and all other colors would be “Sapphires.”  Sapphires are found in India, Burma, Ceylon, Thailand, Vietnam, Australia, Brazil and Africa.

You can find rings with sapphires, bracelets with sapphires, sapphire necklaces, or pendants.  Sapphires can also be bought as solitary stones.  Sapphires are a beautiful stone with endless possibilities!

We girls do love our gemstone jewelry! 

Gemstone jewelry looks great on!  With all the different colors, types and cuts of gemstone jewelry available, it’s hard to decide what to wear.  Whatever you prefer, your gemstone jewelry is certain to be beautiful.  Gemstone jewelry makes a girl feel good!

These days there’s a lot of gemstone jewelry to choose from.  The good news is gemstone jewelry is inexpensive and easy to find.  Building a collection of gemstone jewelry is fun.  I love my gemstone jewelry (and there’s a lot of it)!  I like to buy gemstone jewelry sets for accessorizing. Before long you too can have lots of gemstone jewelry to enjoy!

Gemstone jewelry has been linked to birthdates for centuries!  Even today we usually count our birthday gemstones as our favorites.  I know I do!  I love to give people gemstone jewelry for their birthdays.  Here’s a list of birthstones in case you like that idea too:

• January: Garnet
• February: Amethyst
• March: Aquamarine
• April: Diamond
• May: Emerald
• June: Pearl and Moonstone
• July: Ruby
• August: Peridot
• September: Sapphire
• October: Opal and Tourmaline
• November: Yellow Topaz and Citrine
• December: Blue Topaz and Turquoise

Whether for yourself or for others, you just can’t go wrong with gemstone jewelry!

-Summer

The ancient Persians held the belief that the earth was embedded in a giant sapphire, explaining the hue of the skies above. This conviction rests in that sapphire can be found in all of the colors of the sky: midnight blue to bright blue, golden like sunrise and orange-red like the sunset. Typically known for its vibrant blue shade, sapphire symbolizes truth, sincerity and loyalty. The color blue is also associated with reliable (rather than fiery or passionate) emotions of sympathy and harmony.

Sapphires in History

Because the blue of sapphires represents faithfulness and love, this gemstone is given in many countries as an engagement ring.
According to Christian beliefs, Moses was given the Ten Commandments on a tablet of sapphire, rendering it a sacred gemstone. Because of this, sapphires came to be associated with divine favor and became the choice gemstone for kings and rulers.

Origins and Presentation

Sapphires are second in hardness only to diamonds, allowing stones to last generations. An already valuable gemstone, the sapphire that holds its color in different types of lighting is the most prized.
Sapphires are found in Sri Lanka (the oldest mines are here), Thailand, Australia and Cambodia. Other countries produce sapphire but the most famed sources are Kashmir and Burma – now known as Myanmar.

Beyond Blues

Blue is the most celebrated color of the sapphire, yet the gemstone is available in an array of vibrant hues. In gem terms, a non-blue sapphire is known as a fancy sapphire. These unique gems are found in yellow, pink, purple, green and even white. For hundreds of years the existence of these distinct sapphires was virtually unknown outside of professional, gem-expert and collector circles.