There
are a lot of options of popular and beautiful gemstones representing the month
that Christ was born. Blue zircon replaced lapis as December’s official
birthstone during a 1952 revision of monthly birthstones by the American
National Association of Jewelers. In 2002, they also added tanzanite as another
alternate to blue zircon, with turquoise being the original. All three of these
gemstones are not only exceedingly beautiful independently, but when brought
together make an incredibly beautiful and unique forever keepsake. There are
endless options of custom design and style unique to every December baby when
these three gemstones accompany and compliment each other’s colors and
histories.
Zircons
are found in granites, or alluvial (river) deposits, and are found in a variety
of blue, yellow, brown, orange, green, red and colorless gemstones. Colorless zircon
has been used to imitate diamonds for years before the wide spread use of cubic
zirconia. This is because colorless zircon is the closest natural gem
comparable to a diamond because its fire and brilliance often flashes the colors of the
rainbow. On the Mohs scale, zircon has a hardness of 7.5. Zircon is majorly
mined in Norway, Sweden, Ural Mountains, India, Sri Lanka, Australia, Vietnam
and Nigeria. The best gem quality stones come from Thailand, Cambodia and
South-East Asia.
Turquoise
is one of the oldest known gemstones known to man and is readily available in a
wide range of sizes. Turquoise appears translucent to opaque and its color
ranges from a greenish blue, to robin’s egg-blue and sky-blue shades. Turquoise
is most often fashioned as beads, cabochons, carvings and inlays. Its
popularity is overwhelming in the American southwest even though its
fissionability often fluctuates in the rest of the country. It has a hardness
between 5 and 6 on the Mohs scale, and is found in Australia, Chile, China,
Iran, Mexico and parts of the United States.
Tanzanite
was introduced to the modern jewelry industry in the late sixties, and is a
variety of the mineral zoisite. To this day, tanzanite is found exclusively in
Tanzania, a country in eastern Africa. It has often been used as an alternative
for sapphire before its unique color and brilliance became truly esteemed and
appreciated. Tanzanite’s prices and popularity has recently surged in the
jewelry world because of its dark tone, vivid saturation and beautifully
striking violet-blue color. It has a hardness between 6.5 and 7 on the Mohs
scale. Tanzanite typically exhibits strong pleochroism, which means that it
displays different colors or depths of color at different angles. In the
jewelry trade, pure blue tanzanite is valued above all other tanzanite, but
some customers actually prefer the lighter and purplish colors.
Whether
you were born in the month of December or not, these three gemstones are a
great addition to your jewelry or gem collection, set well within both gold and
silver, and they will bring you praise or compliment your wardrobe year round.
They should all be cleaned with warm soapy water. Please take precautions to
ensure that these gems are well taken care of in case of tragedy. Having them
insured and checking with a trusted jeweler that they are tightly secured in
the setting and that the prongs aren’t too worn, easily does this. Life is too
short, please enjoy and appreciate yourself, your jewelry and those you love.
nice one.......
ReplyDeleteastroshine