May25

May Blog

  May’s birthstone is Emerald, that fabulous beryl gemstone, named from the Greek for ‘green’.  It is  one of the original ‘precious gemstones’, famed for its rich green colour, first mined in Egypt from 330BC, but nowadays there are two main sources – Columbia and Zambia. The availability of fine quality emeralds is limited and treatments such as glass filling are widespread, in order to produce enough commercially viable stones. Legend has it that emeralds have the power to make the wearer more intelligent and quick-witted.  It was once also believed to cure diseases such as malaria and cholera.  Its...

April25

March Blog

This month’s birthstone is aquamarine, a beautiful subtle pale blue gemstone, named after the colour of seawater – who can forget Aquamarina in Stingray!  Its my birthday in March so this is my stone too, although prices for the deeper blue stones, which I prefer, put them outside my price bracket, generally as the deeper colour comes in the larger stones.  But if you love sky blue topaz then you’ll love the paler shades of aquamarine too, especially if you get a well cut stone with plenty of sparkle as this is a much cleaner stone with plenty of clarity. ...