Jade
Jade has long been fashioned into statues, weapons, utensils and other ornaments. The Chinese have cherished this green, fine-textured gem for many centuries. In Chinese culture it represents the five cardinal virtues namely; Charity, Modesty, Courage, Justice and Wisdom. You might have seen a Buddha carved from Jade, or heard of Jade daggers. The reason…
Lapis Lazuli / Lazurite
Known to the ancient Egyptians as the ‘Sky Stone’, Lapis Lazuli (or Lazurite) is one of the oldest gemstones – a blue stone mottled with white calcite and brassy pyrite. Lapis Lazuli has been mined in the Kokcha valley in Afghanistan for roughly 7000 years. This gem was considered sacred and thus the mines were…
White Gold
This post aims to clear up any confusion you may have concerning White Gold and Platinum. All gold is “alloyed” (as is iron in order to make steel), which means that the metal is mixed with other metals in order to change its properties. Examples of alloys are steel, solder, brass, pewter, duralumin, bronze and amalgams. Pure gold in its purest form is unsuitable…
Emerald
You have all heard of Emeralds. This simply sparkling-green precious stone is sometimes even more valued than diamonds. It truly gives its owner the gift of eloquence. The name comes from the Greek word Smaragdos, which means “green stone”. Many ancient races thought of the Emerald as the stone of the Gods. The Greeks associated this…
Silver
The word silver is from the Anglo Saxon name, “seolfor”, and from the Latin name Argentum, we obtain the periodic table symbol for silver, Ag. This precious metal was only discovered 2000 years after gold in 4000bc. Ancient Egyptians and Mesopotamians used Silver before they knew what exactly it was; but what they were actually using was…
Amethyst
According to the Greeks the Amethyst was formed when Bacchus, the ancient god of wine, was insulted by a mere mortal. For revenge he vowed to have a tiger eat the next mortal he came across, however, it happened to be a beautiful young lady named Amethyst. She cried out to the goddess Diana to…
Amber
Amber… that wonderful soft, warm-feeling gem that we all know so well to be fossilised tree resin, but did anyone stop and contemplate that it is actually 30 to 60 million old? Not only ancient, Amber is also very interesting. The name Amber is derived from the Greek word for electricity “Elektron”. Amber carries a…
Quartz: Rock Crystal
Primarily made up of silicon dioxide, Quarts encompasses a vast family of stones. The crystals are generally six-sided and occur in all shades and colours, depending on the temperature at the time of their formation. Rock Crystal is formed from clear lustrous Quartz and was first discovered in the Alps, it was then believed to…
Mohs Scale of Hardness
So why do we see the diamond as eternal? And why do we consider some gems as precious and some as semi-precious? It doesn’t only have to do with beauty or rarity, for the most part, it has to do with durability. Mohs Scale of Hardness Created in 1812 by the German geoligist and mineroligist,…
Garnet
The gemstone for the month of January, the Garnet has a long and interesting history dating back to 3000BC. This popular and affordable gem is found all over the world in all colours from red (Pyrope) and green (Tzavorite), to pink (Rhodolite), yellow (Andradite), and everything in between. The colour blue was absent until blue pyrope–spessartine garnets…
