January Birthstone

 ~  Garnet~

The January birthstone is the beautiful garnet, at least I think it is beautiful…having said that over the years it hasn’t been a popular stone, especially the deep red…I’m not sure why that is?   As always point form is easier and faster to read…

• Garnet is a group of minerals, not one stone
• Comes in a rainbow of colors, ranging from deep red, multi shades of green, yellow, blue, blue-green,(although I’ve read garnet does not come in blues, but the stone turns blue in artificial light) vivid orange, earth and umbra shades.
• Garnet comes from the word granatum, which means seed…it is called this as it resembles the  pomegranate seed
• Also found the reference that garnet comes from the word granum, meaning gain…which is supposed to refer to the rounded shape.
• It is thought the Egyptians used garnet in jewelry dating back to 3100 B.C.
• Hard and sturdy, easy to work with and wear
• Garnet is not enhanced!
• In 1996 Sotheby’s sold a garnet flower broach(19^th century) from the estate of Jacqueline Kennedy-Onassis for $145.000.00
• 1996, in central Australia a giant rough garnet estimated to weigh thousands of tons, measuring nearly a hundred feet across was found by a university student.

 This Grossular Garnet Specimen is from Sierra Del Cruz in Coahuila, Mexico. This specimen exhibits pretty "raspberry" Grossular Garnets in a Wollastinite Matrix.
 

Types of Garnet with color Pyrope:  red garnet, frequently with brown tint Rhodolite:  purplish red or rose-color garnet Almandite: red garnet with violet tint Spessartite:  orange to red-brown garnet. The best specimen comes from Namibia and is called "Mandarin Spessartine". Grossularite:  colorless, green, yellow, brown garnet Hydrogrossular:  dense, opaque greenish variety of grossularite Hessonite:  brown-red variety of garnet Leuco garnet: colorless variety of grossularite Tsavorite:  green to emerald green garnet Andradite:  black, brown, yellow-brown garnet Demantoid:  the most valuable garnet, green to emerald green Melanite:  opaque black variety of andradite Tapazolite: yellow to lemon yellow, topaz-like variety of andradite Uvarovite: emerald green garnet that rarely occurs in gemstone quality. A single Smoky Quartz crystal hosts orange Spessartine Garnet crystals. These orange Garnet crystals are almost entirely flawless inside and out. The crystal faces are sharp and distinct and every Garnet is perfectly clean. Each crystal is like a gemstone in itself...From Wushan, Tongbei, Yunxiau Fujian Province, China and about 2 1/2" long Location found Pyrope: China, Madagascar, Myanmar, South Africa, Sri Lanka, Tanzania, USA Rhodolite: Brazil, India, Sri Lanka, Thailand, USA Almandite: Brazil, India, Madagascar, Sri Lanka and the United States. Smaller deposits exist in Austria and the Czech Republic. Almandine garnet star-stones are found in India and the United States (Idaho). Spessartite: Brazil, China, Kenya, Madagascar, Myanmar, Namibia, Sri Lanka, Tanzania, USA. The best specimens come from Namibia and are called "Mandarin Spessartine (Spessartite) " Grossularite: Canada, Kenya, Mali, Pakistan, Russia, South Africa, Sri Lanka, Tanzania, USA Hydrogrossular: Myanmar, South Africa, Zambia Hessonite: Brazil, Canada, Madagascar, Sri Lanka, Tanzania, USA Leuco garnet: Canada, Mexico, Tanzania Tsavorite: Kenya, Tanzania Andradite: Russia Demantoid: China, Korea, Russia, USA, Zaire Melanite: France, Germany, Italy, USA Tapazolite: Italy, Switzerland, USA Uvarovite: Canada, Finland, India, Poland, Russia, USA The Types of Garnet with color & locations found  was taken directly from: http://www.gemselect.com/gem-info/garnet/garnet-info.php Smithsonian 8-10-09 – 102  Grossular Garnet    As always any questions or comments leave send me an email at hjcote11@gmail.com or leave a comment on my blog… Have a great week. Cheers  I would like to thank “Orbital Joe”…Joe for graciously allowing me to use is wonderful photos…without the post would lack color!  Joe is on flickr.com…take a look at his photos.  http://www.flickr.com/photos/orbitaljoe/

Information Source:

http://www.americangemsociety.org/january-birthstone

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Garnet

http://www.gemselect.com/gem-info/garnet/garnet-info.php

http://www.minerals.net/gemstone/garnet_gemstone.aspx

December Birthstone ~ Tanzanite

For the month of December I had four stones to choose from, Tanzanite, Zircon, Blue Topaz and Turquoise.   I was leaning towards Turquoise, just because it is one of my favorite stones but decided to choose Tanzanite simple because it is a lesser known stone…besides it is a stone I’ve never used and I’d like to know more about it myself! 

As previously I’m going to do point form…it is easier to read this way.

Orbital Joe,  Zoisite var. Tanzanite

•  Discovered in northern Tanzania in late 1960’s., near the city of Arusha and Mount Kilimanjaro
• Found exclusively in Tanzania
• Is a blue Zoisite, but was given the name Tanzanite in honor of where it is found. 
• Anniversary stone for 24^th year of marriage.
• when first mined usually a blue, but can be brown.
• Widely accepted that virtually all Tanzanite is heat-treated to 700 degrees Celsius to product the vibrant blue-purple shades.
• Rarely a pure blue usually has deep purple shades.
• Is pleochroism, which means this stone has the ability to exhibit more than one color.
• is a trichroic gem, when removed from the mine, it has three layers of color, most common layer would be blue, violet and burgundy but you could see red, green, yellow, or possibly orange.
• It is the blue the gemstone cutter will highlight when cutting, often wasting a good deal of the gem, but the finished stone is thought to be worth it.
• the world's largest faceted tanzanite is 737.81 carats
• Relatively soft of usually set in necklaces, care must be taken when wearing.
• Clean with soap and water, no harsh chemicals.
• the stone was named by Tiffany & Co.

Orbital Joe, Tanzanite broach, Smithsonian, 08-10-09-017

·         Apparently Tanzanite is 1000 times rarer than diamonds.

I’m including a link to TanzaniteOne Mining Limited http://tanzaniteone.com/.  They’ve done a great job with the website, wonderful photos and interesting and detailed information.  This company owns the license to mine Block C, the largest commercial Tanzanite mining facility.   I enjoyed browsing their informative website.  A few points I found interesting are:

• their stones are conflict free!
• their rough stones are sold to only eight companies in the world.
• the companies Civils & Construction Manager received a diploma in mining through Haileybury School of Mines in  Haileybury, Ontario.
• you will find an amazing photo gallery here:  http://tanzaniteone.com/gallery

As always if you have any questions or comments send me an email at hjcote11@gmail.com or leave a comment here…

Have a great week…

Cheers

Photos:  A special thank you to Joe, (Orbital Joe) for allowing me to use his Tanzanite photo, without which the post would lack sparkle! His mineral photos begin here:  http://www.flickr.com/photos/orbitaljoe/sets/414330/

Information:

http://www.americangemsociety.org/december-birthstones

http://www.bernardine.com/gemstones/tanzanite.htm

http://www.tanzanite.com/about/tanzanite/  About Tanzanite

http://www.gemstone.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=103:sapphire&catid=1:gem-by-gem&Itemid=14

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tanzanite

November Birthstone ~ Topaz~

Technically there are two birthstones for the month of November, Topaz and Citrine…I’ve decided to focus on the Topaz.    It is a fascinating stone; some of the information may surprise you…I know it did me!

• topaz comes from Sanskrit work “fire”
• rare, therefore expensive.
• in ancient lore was said to be used to cool heat…such as cooling boiling water, cool anger, as well as used to cure a fever
• pure topaz is colorless, can be mistaken for diamonds if well cut…colors are due to minor elements found in the crystals, some colors can fade away, while some are heated to produce more intense color.

 

 Gorgeous Topaz crystal is surrounded by Amethyst micro crystals on a Rhyolite matrix extracted by Utah Dave Merrill from the Wild Horse Springs area. Thomas Range, Juab County, Utah, Joe thanks Dave for donating these to his collection!

• Yellow Topaz is the modern November birthstone, often confused with Citrine.
  

  Orthorhombic Topaz Crystal from the Thomas Range in Juab Co, Utah

• high shine, multi colored, multifaceted crystals
• comes in a rainbow of colors…yellow, pink, purple, green, orange, brown, colorless, black and many gorgeous blue tones.  Green and blue are often very light in color so are treated to enhance the color.
• the most prized color is orange with pinkish undertones, called Imperial Topaz.

 Gorgeous Sherry-colored Topaz, extracted by Utah Dave Merrill from the Wild Horse Springs area. Thomas Range, Juab County, Utah.  Joe thanks Dave for donating these to his collection!

• it is the gem for the 4th, 19^th and 23^rd wedding anniversaries.
• the Blue Topaz gems range in color from Sky Blue, Swiss Blue and London Blue, with the Sky blue being the lightest and London Blue the darkest color.
• largest producer of topaz is Brazil, but can be found in Africa, Mexico, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Russia Scotland, Japan, Colorado and California and Australia
• topaz is one of the hardest silicate mineral in nature.
• crystal size ranges from very small nuggets to dramatically large stones, such as the one found in the American Museum of Natural History in New York it is the home to the largest uncut topaz, found in Brazil…600 pounds.

I’ve only had the pleasure of working with blue topaz, even then rarely as I don’t find it is a color that appeals to many people.  I wasn’t aware of the rainbow of colors topaz is available in; I would like to see some of the more unique colors such as black, green and purple…at least unique to me.  Check out the gorgeous colours below...purple is a favorite color of mine…

Smithsonian 8-10-09-210…Topaz.

As always, for any questions or comments, send me an email or leave a comment on my blog.

Have a great week…

Cheers

Photo Source:  A special thank you to “Orbital Joe”…for graciously allowing me to use his stunning photos …as always it is greatly appreciated!  You can see more of Joe’s gem photos here…Flickr

Information Source

http://www.americangemsociety.org/november-birthstones

http://www.bernardine.com/birthstone/topaz.htm

http://www.galleries.com/Topaz.

http://earthsky.org/earth/november-birthstone-topaz

September Birthstone ~ Sapphire

The traditional September birthstone is the lovely Sapphire, one of four precious stones, along with the ruby, diamond and emerald.   I hope you enjoy looking through the information I’ve compiled…I’m sure there is much you will find new and interesting!  

sapphire, Smithsonian,   08.10.09.006

•  Mystical birthstone for September is Agate
•   Ayurvedic (Indian medicine from India dating back to 1500 B.C.) birthstone is Moonstone
•  Sapphire…Greek for “blue stone" 
•  Variety of the corundum mineral family                                                                  blue sapphire, Smithsonian,   08.10.09 066

•  Blue, yellow, pink, purple, orange or greenish colored sapphires are due to trace amounts of iron, titanium, chromium, copper or magnesium… 
•  The most well known sapphire color is blue, but it can also be found ranging from gray to black.
•  The rarest natural sapphire (without any form of treatment) is the “padparadscha” (pink-orange), found in Sri Lanka, Vietnam and parts of Africa.
•  Colorless sapphires sometimes substituted for diamonds.
•  There are sapphires that appear to be a different color in different lights, such as purple under incandescent indoor light and blue outside…greenish in fluorescent light and pink in daylight.  This effect is rare, with these gems found mainly in Tanzania

  
       Yellow sapphire, Smithsonian,  08.10.09 072

• Found naturally…there are also an abundance of “man made sapphire gemstones”
• Found in a couple of locations in North America (Montana being one), eastern Australia, Thailand, Sri Lanka, China (Shandong), Madagascar and East Africa
• A hard gemstone…9 on the Mohs scale
•  There is also the “star sapphire”…either in blue or red, which has a six pointed star shape in the stone.  The natural star effect may be from mineral rutile.
• There are several methods to enhance the appearance of a sapphire…heat treatment (1700 to 1800 Celsius for a few hours)is one way…unheated sapphires are rather rare and the cost will reflect this.  Sapphires can also be heated to very high temperatures and have impurities added to enhance the appearance of the stone.
• By law, enhancements must be disclosed when they greatly effects the value of the stone
•  Likewise sapphires untreated with usually have a certification stating this as the value will be much higher.
•  Sapphire is given as a gift for the 5th, 23rd and 45th wedding anniversaries while a star sapphire is given on the 65th wedding anniversary.
• It is also one of the birthstones for Pisces, Taurus, Virgo and Sagittarius 

• Amazingly, because of the hardness of the sapphire (the diamond is the only gem harder) it has been used as “sapphires are used in some non-ornamental applications, including infrared optical components, such as in scientific instruments; high-durability windows; wristwatch crystals and movement bearings; and very thin electronic wafers, which are used as the insulating substrates in very special-purpose solid –state electronics, most of which are integrated circuits)”.   http//en.Wikipedia.org/wiki/Sapphire 

 

NOTE:  I’ve decided for articles that are informational, such as birthstone of the month… I will do the majority of it in point form…not great writing style I know…but… I’ve been doing blog posts since 2008 and my experience is the most popular posts, are the ones with the least words, interspersed with photos.  For the most part people don’t want to read something overly long! 

I know people glance at the photos and if their attention is peaked they will then take the time to read what is written.  I understand we are all busy…having said that I often find the most interesting information, which I don’t want to leave out, hence the long, wordy articles!!!

I can't do the blog format on baytoday.ca due to how the site is set up...check out the post on baytoday.ca and you will see what I mean.  I’ve been told it is “in the works”…so for now I’ll plug along in this manner.

These earrings were made back in 2007 for a customer who brought me her own sapphires from Sri Lanka!  My photo does not do the gems justice!!!

 

Cheers

Note:  Special thank you to Orbital Joe, I’ve used many of his photos for blog post over the years!  He has always been generous with allowing me access to his amazing photos.  Check out his Flickr photos

Information Source

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sapphire

http://www.gemselect.com/gem-info/sapphire/sapphire-info.php

http://www.bernardine.com/gemstones/sapphire.htm