Metals & Gemstones

Often described by gem aficionados as “emerald by day, ruby by night,” Alexandrite is a rare variety of the mineral chrysoberyl that changes color in different light. When certain types of long, thin inclusions run parallel to each other, they can create a phenomenon called chatoyancy or the cat’s-eye effect. Alexandrite is hard and durable and quality examples are often rare and valuable.

Alexandrite one of three birthstones for June. It is also the gem of the 55th wedding anniversary.

Amethyst is a purple variety of quartz mineral species. It’s the gem that’s most commonly associated with the color purple, even though there are other purple gems such as sapphire and tanzanite. Its purple color can be cool and bluish, or a reddish purple that’s sometimes referred to as “raspberry.”

Amethyst is the birthstone for February and the gem for the 6th and 17th wedding anniversaries.

Ametrine, also known as amethyst-citrine, one of the rarest types of transparent quartz, combines two colors: amethyst’s purple and citrine’s orange-to-yellow, growing together in a single crystal.

Aquamarine, named after seawater, is the green-blue to blue variety of beryl, usually found as a light pastel greenish blue. Heat treatment usually results in a stronger blue hue.

Aquamarine is one of the March's birthstones and the gem of the 19th anniversary.

Bloodstone, also known as heliotrope, is a variety of chalcedony (cryptocrystalline quartz) that is traditionally semi-translucent to opaque dark green jasper with red inclusions of iron oxides, especially hematite. It is typically found as a dark-green cabochon that contains red spots of iron oxide.

Citrine is a transparent yellow to brownish orange variety of quartz, which has been used in jewelry for thousands of years. Natural citrine is rare. Most citrine on the market is the result of heat treatment of amethyst. Citrine’s attractive color, durability and affordability makes it the most popular yellow-to-orange gem. A saturated yellow to reddish orange color free of brownish tints is prized and its most popular shade is an earthy hue of deep brownish or reddish orange.

Citrine is one of two birthstones for November and is the gem of the 13th anniversary.

Diamonds are among nature’s most precious and beautiful creations. This hardest gem of all is made of just one element: carbon. It’s valued for its colorless nature and purity. Most diamonds are primeval—over a billion years old—and form deep within the earth.

Diamond is recognized today as the birthstone for April and marks the 60th and 75th wedding anniversaries.

DIAMOND QUALITY

CARAT WEIGHT - One carat is equal to 0.20 grams. Only one in 1,000 diamonds weighs more than one carat.

COLOR - Using the GIA scale of D-to-Z, measures the colorlessness of a diamond, comparing it to master stones

CLARITY - Clarity grades are based on the number, size, relief, and positions of blemishes or inclusions that can be seen under 10x magnification

CUT - A diamond's cut proportions, symmetry, and polish to maximize brightness, scintillation, and fire.

Emerald is the most famous member of the beryl family, and is often considered the definition of green. Variations this rich stone suggest soothing, lush gardens, and evoke rebirth and renewal. From the poetic description of Ireland as “the Emerald Isle” to the vibrant green of the famed gemstone itself—this stone has captured hearts and minds through the ages.

From Egyptian pharaohs to Inca emperors, emerald has enchanted royalty. Cleopatra was known to have a passion for emerald and used it in her royal adornments. The legendary Crown of the Andes, fashioned in colonial South America, is one example of how the Spanish revered the May birthstone.

Few places on earth have the geological conditions needed to produce the coveted stone. Legend has it that emerald has the power to make its wearer more intelligent and quick-witted, and it was once believed to cure diseases like cholera and malaria.

Emerald also represents the 20th and 35th wedding anniversaries.

Legends endowed the wearer with the ability to foresee the future when emerald was placed under the tongue, as well as to reveal truth and be protected against evil spells. Emerald was once also believed to cure diseases like cholera and malaria. Wearing an emerald was believed to reveal the truth or falseness of a lover’s oath as well as make one an eloquent speaker.

Emerald’s lush green has soothed souls and excited imaginations since antiquity. Legend states the emerald was one of the four precious stones given by God to King Solomon. These four stones were said to have endowed the king with power over all creation.

Often considered the definition of green, its color reflects new spring growth, which makes it the perfect choice of a birthstone for the month of May. It’s also the gemstone for twentieth and thirty-fifth wedding anniversaries.

Garnet is actually a group of minerals forming over 20 different species, resulting in an extraordinary range of beautiful colors! The most recognized garnet gems are: Almandine and Pyrope range from deep purple to a bright, fiery red. Spessartine is found in vibrant oranges and yellows, while Andradite is mostly yellow to green. Grossular may have the widest ranges, from colorless through yellow to reddish orange and orange/red, as well as a strong vibrant green called tsavorite

Garnet is the birthstone for January and the gem for the 2nd anniversary.

Iolite, from the Greek word “ios,” meaning “violet,” is also known as cordierite to geologists and mineralogists. According to legend, ancient Viking navigators used thin slices of iolite as filters to help locate the sun on cloudy days.

Fine iolite comes by its beautiful blues and violets naturally and it is rarely treated. Iolite can display a blue to violet hue in one direction and pale yellow to colorless in another. From some angles, a bluish iolite can actually appear completely colorless or yellow, and a violetish iolite can look brown.

Iolite is the gemstone of the 21st anniversary.

Jade (jadeite, nephrite, and green omphacite) has been cherished for thousands of years for its rich heritage, beauty, durability, and rarity. This metamorphic rock is made up of tiny interlocking mineral crystals, making the gems exceptionally tough. Thus, around the world, Stone Age workers often used nephrite to shape weapons, tools, jewelry, and ritual objects, invoking the powers of heaven and earth and mystic forces of life and death.

In Central America, the Mayans and the Aztecs prized jadeite for its medicinal purposes as well as for jewelry, ornaments, and religious artifacts. Jadeite also symbolizes prosperity, success, and good luck.

Artisans in China have created masterpieces still unsurpassed in concept, design, and technical execution for 3,000 years. The Chinese associate jade with clarity of mind and purity of spirit. Some of the ancient symbolic motifs are still used in modern jade carvings of both nephrite and jadeite.

The ancient civilizations of Mesopotamia, Egypt, China, Greece, and Rome have treasured lapis lazuli for more than 6,500 years. They valued it for its vivid, exquisite color, and prized it as much as they prized other blue gems like sapphire and turquoise.

For thousands of years, lapis has been fashioned to show off its rich, dark color, often used in jewelry, cut into cabochons, beads, inlays, and tablets. Throughout its history, lapis has also been a popular carving material fashioned into game boards, bowls, dagger handles, hair combs, and amulets.

Lapis Lazuli is a lovely rock aggregate, mostly comprised of lazurite and pyrite in a calcite mix. Sometimes, you will also find diopside, amphibole, feldspar, and mica.

Moonstone is perhaps the most familiar gem-quality member of the feldspar group and prized for its billowy blue adularescence, caused by light scattering from an intergrowth of microscopic, alternating layers. The misty light seems to roll across the gem’s surface as you change your viewing angle. The finest moonstones show a blue sheen against a colorless background.

Moonstone is one of three birthstones for June

Opal’s shifting play of colors is unlike any other gem. Opal is the product of ancient seasonal rains drenching dry sem-desert grounds. The showers soaked deep into the underground rock, carrying dissolved silica downward. During dry periods, much of the water evaporated, leaving solid deposits of silica in the cracks and between the layers of underground sedimentary rock. The silica deposits formed opal. In fact, Opal contains up to 20% water trapped in its silica structure.

Opal is one of two October birthstones and is the stone given to celebrate the 14th wedding anniversary.

Perfect shining spheres. Lustrous baroque forms. Seductive strands, warm to the touch. Pearls are simply and purely organic.

Pearl is the birthstone for June and the gem of the third and thirtieth anniversaries.

Natural Pearls are rare and form in the bodies, or mantle tissue, of certain mollusks, without human intervention of any kind.

Cultured Pearls require human intervention and care. Today, most of the mollusks used in the culturing process are raised specifically for that purpose, although some wild mollusks are still collected and used. There are four major types of cultured whole pearls:

Freshwater Cultured Pearls are the most commonly produced pearls and they are one of the most popular pearl types among shoppers and jewelry designers. This is due to their remarkable range of sizes, shapes and colors. They are usually cultured in freshwater lakes and ponds, often with many pearls grown from a single oyster. China is the leading source for freshwater cultured pearls.

Tahitian Cultured Pearls, sometimes referred to as black pearls, have a wide color range. They might be gray, black or brown, and they can have blue, green, purple or pink overtones. These pearls are cultivated primarily around the islands of French Polynesia (the most familiar of these is Tahiti).

Akoya Cultured Pearls are the most familiar saltwater cultured pearl. Many customers think of white or cream colored akoyas as the classic pearl used for jewelry, especially single-strand necklaces. Most come from Japan and China.

South Sea Cultured Pearls can be white to silver or golden, depending on the type of oyster. Their large size and thick nacre, due to a long growth period, plus their limited critical growing conditions contribute to their value. Australia, Indonesia, and the Philippines are leading sources of these pearls.

For more on pearls, visit read this article by GIA, the world’s foremost authority on diamonds, colored stones, and pearls

Ruby is one of the most coveted of gems. Few things catch the eye like the ruby. The name is derived from the Latin word ruber, meaning “red” – the color of love and passion. The finest color is a deep red with a hint of purple, called “pigeon’s blood” in the trade.

Ruby is also July's birthstone.

Sapphire has been cherished for thousands of years. Although the term Sapphire usually refers to the blue variety of corundum, it comes in a rainbow of colors. Besides blue sapphire and ruby, the corundum family also includes so-called “fancy sapphires.” They come in violet, green, yellow, orange, pink, purple, and intermediate hues. Some stones exhibit color change, most often going from blue in daylight or fluorescent lighting to purple under incandescent light. Sapphires can even be gray, black, or brown

Tanzanite is found in only one place on earth, near majestic Mount Kilimanjaro. Tanzanite was one of the most exciting gem discoveries of the 20th century with beautiful blue stones emerging from Tanzania in 1962. Tanzanite It is often described as “velvety,” because of its deep and saturated color, ranging from a pure rich blue to violet, with the blue considered most valuable. Just like other colored gemstones, vivid strongly-colored tanzanites are highly sought after. Lighter toned pastel hues are more plentiful and affordable than vivid colors and have a subtle appeal of their own. Today, most tanzanite gems are heat treated to remove or reduce the yellow green or brownish pleochroic colors and maximize blue and violet hues.

Tanzanite is one of three December birthstones and the gem of the 24th anniversary.

Topaz has an incredible variety of hues other than the well-known blue, including including natural pinks and purples that rival the finest fancy sapphires, as well as colorless, light blue, yellow, orange, violet, brown and, very rarely, red. The distinctly pinkish orange Imperial topaz has aristocratic cachet, highly prized by royals.

In fact, blue Topaz is hardly ever natural. The vast majority of blue topaz seen today is the result of treating colorless topaz with irradiation and heating. The rainbow effect seen in “Mystic Topaz” is created by coating colorless topaz with a thin artificial film.

Blue topaz is the gem of the fourth wedding anniversary, and Imperial topaz is the gem of the 23rd wedding anniversary.

Tourmaline comes from the Sinhalese word toramalli, which means “stone with mixed colors,” because it often has multiple colors in just one crystal. Among the most popular tourmaline are the pink and red rubellites, the emerald green “chrome” tourmalines, and the neon green and blue-to-violet “paraíba” tourmalines.

Because of its vast range of colors, tourmaline was has often been mistaken for other gemstones. One of the “rubies” in the Russian crown jewels, the “Caesar’s Ruby” pendant, is actually red (rubellite) tourmaline. A Spanish conquistador found green tourmaline crystals in Brazil in the 1500s and confused the stones with emerald. These and other cases of mistaken identity continued for centuries until scientists recognized tourmaline as a distinct mineral species in the 1800s.

Turquoise's multi-layered history and soul-satisfying color make it a desirable gemstone. People value turquoise highly for its combination of ancient heritage and unforgettable color ranges, from dull greens to grass greens to a bright, medium-toned, sky blue with often visible veins of dark matrix running through it.

Throughout history, turquoise has inspired many to create elegant jewelry, most often cut into cabochons, beads or inlays. Turquoise is relatively soft, so it’s ideal for carving. Artists in Europe, Asia, the Middle East, and the Americas choose turquoise as a medium for carved jewelry and art objects. It’s often fashioned into talismans with Native American significance, such as bird and animal carvings, called fetishes. Turquoise also adorns the funerary mask of King Tut, who ruled Egypt more than 3,000 years ago.

Turquoise is one of three December birthstones and is also the gem of the 11th wedding anniversary.

Zircon is a natural, magnificent, and colorful gem, that should not be confused with the synthetic gem cubic zirconia.

Zircon is known for its brilliant blue hues and flashes of multicolored light, called fire. Its optical properties make it a bright and lustrous gem. Despite a long history as a diamond substitute, zircon is actually rarer than diamond.

Zircon occurs in an array of colors with a wide and varied palette of warm autumnal yellows, green, red to reddish brown, and blue, making it a favorite among collectors. Applying different levels of heat to the stone results in an even larger expanse of color options.