Cool Facts About Each Month's Birthstone
For thousands of years, garnets have been a prized gemstone. Pharaohs of Egypt valued garnets, wore them frequently, and were buried with garnets in their tombs.
Greek myth: Amethyst keeps wearer clear-minded in business & battle. Renaissance belief: It soothes passionate lovers
Eleanor Roosevelt got a 1298-carat aquamarine gift from Brazil in 1936. It's on display at the Franklin D. Roosevelt Presidential Library.
"adamas" in Greek meaning unbreakable. Strong & quintessential for engagement rings, symbolizing enduring love & commitment.
Emeralds treasured for millennia worldwide, believed to hold magical powers, including seeing the future by placing under the tongue.
Pearls mystified owners for ages. Middle Easterners saw them as heaven's tears, while Chinese believed they came from a dragon's brain.
Indian jewelry prizes rubies as symbols of youth and power. Known as the "king of precious stones," rubies are second only to diamonds in hardness.
While peridot may be found in many nations across the world, including Myanmar, Pakistan, and Vietnam, part of it comes to Earth via meteorites.
Diana's 12-carat blue sapphire engagement ring, later inherited by Kate Middleton, is an iconic gem of modern history.
For many years, Europeans regarded the opal as a symbol of truth and purity. Australia supplies a large portion of the world's opal.
Topaz was once solely mined in Brazil for centuries, but now it can be found in several African nations, Mexico, Myanmar, and the US.
Turquoise valued by indigenous Americans; Apache saw it at the end of rainbows, Hopi believed lizards produced it.