What is the most widely accepted gemstone for January?
"Carbuncle (gemstone) A carbuncle is any red gemstone, most often a red garnet. The word occurs in four places in many English translations of the Bible. The English King James translation is a rendering of the Hebrew Masoretic text (Old Testament) and Greek Textus Receptus (New Testament). ""Carbunculus"" is a word used in Latin for a small coal (or charcoal), and also for any of a number of precious or semi-precious stones, especially those of a red color.; Jerome apparently chose the term because of its similarity in meaning to the Septuagint's ἄνθραξ (""anthrax"" meaning ""coal""), which was in turn"
"gem garnets and was used as lapping and polishing media for the glass industries. The host rock of the garnet here is garnetiferous mica schist and the total percentage of garnet is not more than 7% to 10%, which makes the material extremely costly and non-economical to extract for non-gemstone applications. Garnet is the birthstone of January. It is also the birthstone of Aquarius in tropical astrology. New York has garnet as its state gemstone, Connecticut has almandine garnet as its state gemstone, Idaho has star garnet as its state gemstone, and Vermont has grossular garnet as its state gemstone."
"its variations are not found in classical sources. However, the titan Rhea does present Dionysus with an amethyst stone to preserve the wine-drinker's sanity in historical text. Tibetans consider amethyst sacred to the Buddha and make prayer beads from it. Amethyst is considered the birthstone of February. In the Middle Ages, it was considered a symbol of royalty and used to decorate English regalia. In the Old World, amethyst was considered one of the Cardinal gems, in that it was one of the five gemstones considered precious above all others, until large deposits were found in Brazil. Amethyst is produced"
"as gemstones. The gemstone varieties occur in shades of green, red, yellow, and orange. In the US it is known as the birthstone for January. It is the state mineral of Connecticut, New York's gemstone, and star garnet (garnet with rutile asterisms) is the state gemstone of Idaho. Garnet sand is a good abrasive, and a common replacement for silica sand in sand blasting. Alluvial garnet grains which are rounder are more suitable for such blasting treatments. Mixed with very high pressure water, garnet is used to cut steel and other materials in water jets. For water jet cutting, garnet"
"to the market in 1968. In 2002, the American Gem Trade Association chose tanzanite as a December birthstone, the first change to their birthstone list since 1912. Manuel de Souza, a Goan tailor and part-time gold prospector living in Arusha (Tanzania), found transparent fragments of blue and blue-purple gem crystals on a ridge near Mirerani, some southeast of Arusha. He assumed that the mineral was olivine (peridot) but, after soon realizing it was not, he concluded it was ""dumortierite"" (a blue non-gem mineral). Shortly thereafter, the stones were shown to John Saul, a Nairobi-based consulting geologist and gemstone wholesaler who"
"societies. Tiffany & Co. published these poems ""of unknown author"" for the first time in a pamphlet in 1870. In 1912, in an effort to standardize birthstones, the (American) National Association of Jewelers (now called Jewelers of America) met in Kansas and officially adopted a list. The Jewelry Industry Council of America updated the list in 1952 by adding Alexandrite for June, citrine for November and ""pink"" tourmaline for October. They also replaced December's lapis with zircon and switched the primary/alternative gems for March. The American Gem Trade Association added tanzanite as a December birthstone in 2002. In 2016, the"
"Amethyst Amethyst is a violet variety of quartz. The name comes from the Koine Greek ἀμέθυστος ""amethystos"" from ἀ- ""a-"", ""not"" and μεθύσκω ""methysko"" / μεθύω ""methyo"", ""intoxicate"", a reference to the belief that the stone protected its owner from drunkenness. The ancient Greeks wore amethyst and carved drinking vessels from it in the belief that it would prevent intoxication. Amethyst is a semiprecious stone often used in jewelry and is the traditional birthstone for February. Amethyst is a purple variety of quartz (SiO) and owes its violet color to irradiation, iron impurities (in some cases in conjunction with transition"
"as aquamarine, peridot and cat's eye (cymophane) have been popular and hence been regarded as precious. Today such a distinction is no longer made by the gemstone trade. Many gemstones are used in even the most expensive jewelry, depending on the brand name of the designer, fashion trends, market supply, treatments, etc. Nevertheless, diamonds, rubies, sapphires, and emeralds still have a reputation that exceeds those of other gemstones. Rare or unusual gemstones, generally meant to include those gemstones which occur so infrequently in gem quality that they are scarcely known except to connoisseurs, include andalusite, axinite, cassiterite, clinohumite and red"
"valuable for ornaments and decorative objects. Nephrite can be found in a creamy white form (known in China as ""mutton fat"" jade) as well as in a variety of light green colours, whereas jadeite shows more colour variations, including blue, red, black, dark green, lavender and white. Of the two, jadeite is rarer, documented in fewer than 12 places worldwide. Translucent emerald-green jadeite is the most prized variety, both historically and today. As ""quetzal"" jade, bright green jadeite from Guatemala was treasured by Mesoamerican cultures, and as ""kingfisher"" jade, vivid green rocks from Burma became the preferred stone of post-1800"
"Diamond (gemstone) A diamond (from the ""adámas"", meaning ""unbreakable"", ""proper"", or ""unalterable"") is one of the best-known and most sought-after gemstones. Diamonds have been used as decorative items since ancient times; some of the earliest references can be traced to 25,000 - 30,000 B.C. The hardness of diamond and its high dispersion of light—giving the diamond its characteristic ""fire""—make it useful for industrial applications and desirable as jewelry. Diamonds are such a highly traded commodity that multiple organizations have been created for grading and certifying them based on the ""four Cs"", which are color, cut, clarity, and carat. Other characteristics,"
"and is also the origin of the word ""citron"". Sometimes citrine and amethyst can be found together in the same crystal, which is then referred to as ametrine. Citrine has been referred to as the ""merchant's stone"" or ""money stone"", due to a superstition that it would bring prosperity. Citrine was first appreciated as a golden-yellow gemstone in Greece between 300 and 150 BC, during the Hellenistic Age. The yellow quartz was used prior to that to decorate jewelry and tools but it was not highly sought-after. Milk quartz or milky quartz is the most common variety of crystalline quartz."
"other rubies of similar quality. After color follows clarity: similar to diamonds, a clear stone will command a premium, but a ruby without any needle-like rutile inclusions may indicate that the stone has been treated. Ruby is the traditional birthstone for July and is usually more pink than garnet, although some rhodolite garnets have a similar pinkish hue to most rubies. The world's most valuable ruby is the Sunrise Ruby. Rubies have a hardness of 9.0 on the Mohs scale of mineral hardness. Among the natural gems only moissanite and diamond are harder, with diamond having a Mohs hardness of"
"the stone such as color zoning (the uneven distribution of coloring within a gem) and asteria (star effects). The Greeks, for example, greatly valued asteria gemstones, which were regarded as powerful love charms, and Helen of Troy was known to have worn star-corundum. Aside from the diamond, the ruby, sapphire, emerald, pearl (not, strictly speaking, a gemstone), and opal have also been considered to be precious. Up to the discoveries of bulk amethyst in Brazil in the 19th century, amethyst was considered a ""precious stone"" as well, going back to ancient Greece. Even in the last century certain stones such"
"American Gem Trade Association and Jewelers of America added spinel as an additional birthstone for August. Britain's National Association of Goldsmiths created their own standardized list of birthstones in 1937. Eastern cultures recognize a similar range of gemstones associated with birth, though rather than associating a gem with a birth month, gemstones are associated with celestial bodies, and astrology is employed to determine the gemstones most closely associated with and beneficial to a particular individual. For example, in Hinduism there are nine gemstones associated with the ""Navagraha"" (celestial forces including the planets, the sun, and the moon), known in Sanskrit"
"Moonstone (gemstone) Moonstone is a sodium potassium aluminium silicate ((Na,K)AlSiO) of the feldspar group that displays a pearly and opalescent schiller. An alternative name is ""hecatolite"". Its name is derived from a visual effect, sheen or schiller (play of color), caused by light diffraction within a micro-structure consisting of regular exsolution layers (lamellae) of different alkali feldspars (orthoclase and sodium-rich plagioclase). Moonstone has been used in jewelry for millennia, including ancient civilizations. The Romans admired moonstone, as they believed it was born from solidified rays of the Moon. Both the Romans and Greeks associated moonstone with their lunar deities. In"
"and glass are also seen. Starting in the early 20th century, synthetic jewels were almost universally used. Before that time, low grade natural jewels which were unsuitable as gemstones were used. In either case, the jewels have virtually no monetary value. The most common types of jewels are hole jewels. Hole jewels are disks (normally flying saucer shaped) which have a carefully shaped and sized hole. The pivot of an arbor rides in this hole. The jewel provides an extremely smooth and hard surface which is very wear resistant, and when properly lubricated, very low friction. Thus, hole jewels reduce"
"to be top-grade by many gemologists but the lemon yellow colors are also popular and attractive. Cat's eye material is found as a small percentage of the overall chrysoberyl production wherever chrysoberyl is found. Cat's eye really became popular by the end of the 19th century when the Duke of Connaught gave a ring with a cat's eye as an engagement token; this was sufficient to make the stone more popular and increase its value greatly. Until that time, cat's eye had predominantly been present in gem and mineral collections. The increased demand in turn created an intensified search for"
"more recent history, moonstone became popular during the Art Nouveau period; French goldsmith René Lalique and many others created a large quantity of jewelry using this stone. The most common moonstone is of the plagioclase feldspar mineral adularia, named for an early mining site near Mt. Adular in Switzerland, now the town of St. Gotthard. Solid solution of the plagioclase feldspar oligoclase +/- the potassium feldspar orthoclase also produces moonstone specimens. Deposits of moonstone occur in Armenia (mainly from Lake Sevan), Australia, the Austrian Alps, Mexico, Madagascar, Myanmar, Norway, Poland, India, Sri Lanka and the United States. The moonstone is"
"Three designs for the new setting, all white diamonds and white metal, were created and the public voted on the final version. The Hope Diamond also is resting on a new dark blue neck form, which the Harry Winston firm commissioned from display organization, Pac Team Group. Previously, the Hope Diamond had been displayed as a loose gem since late summer of 2009 when it was removed from its former Cartier-designed setting. A Smithsonian curator described it as ""priceless"" because it was ""irreplaceable"", although it was reported to be insured for $250 million. On January 13, 2012 the diamond was"
"of approximately 90%, a silver content of 8%, and a copper content of 2%. The gemstone was identified as a sapphire using Raman spectroscopy. In January 2013 experts from UK universities gathered in York at a conference organised by the University and the Yorkshire Museum to discuss the nature and significance of the ring. The ring was subsequently argued to date from the 5th or 6th century – not the 10th or 11th as originally believed and its origin was attributed to Europe, possibly France, and that it would have belonged to a king, leader or royal consort – not"
"used for abrasive applications. The most familiar usage of diamonds today is as gemstones used for adornment—a usage which dates back into antiquity. The dispersion of white light into spectral colors is the primary gemological characteristic of gem diamonds. In the twentieth century, gemologists have developed methods of grading diamonds and other gemstones based on the characteristics most important to their value as a gem. Four characteristics known informally as the ""four Cs"" are now commonly used as the basic descriptors of diamonds: carat, cut, color, and clarity. This system was developed by Gemological Institute of America in 1953 as"
"to help authenticate Canadian diamonds. This is a very stringent tracking system of diamonds and helps protect the 'conflict free' label of Canadian diamonds. Currently, gem production totals nearly of cut and polished stones annually, and over of mined diamonds are sold for industrial use each year, as are about of synthesized diamond. Diamond (gemstone) A diamond (from the ""adámas"", meaning ""unbreakable"", ""proper"", or ""unalterable"") is one of the best-known and most sought-after gemstones. Diamonds have been used as decorative items since ancient times; some of the earliest references can be traced to 25,000 - 30,000 B.C. The hardness of"
"values them according to their carat weight, color, clarity and cut. Other gemstones, such as sapphires, rubies, emeralds, have different systems. The jewelry may be chosen to honor a family tradition, to use family heirlooms, to have an unusual style, to have socially responsible characteristics (e.g., a style that is not associated with blood diamond controversy or the pollution caused by gold mining and cyanide process), to fit the individual's stylistic preferences, or to manage cost. Synthetic stones and diamond substitutes such as cubic zirconias and moissanites are also popular choices that are socially responsible and reduce cost while maintaining"
"Demantoid (literally ""diamond-like"") especially has been prized as a gemstone since its discovery in the Ural Mountains in 1868; it is a noted feature of antique Russian and Art Nouveau jewelry. Titanite or sphene is also seen in antique jewelry; it is typically some shade of chartreuse and has a luster, RI (1.885–2.050), and dispersion (0.051) high enough to be mistaken for diamond, yet it is anisotropic (a high birefringence of 0.105–0.135) and soft (hardness 5.5). Discovered the 1960s, the rich green tsavorite variety of grossular is also very popular. Both grossular and andradite are isotropic and have relatively high"
"the country. All neutron- or electron beam-irradiated gemstones must be tested by an NRC-licensee prior to release for sales. In India, the Bhabha Atomic Research Centre started irradiating gemstones in the early 1970s. In Thailand, the Office of Atoms for Peace (OAP) conducts the process for private sectors, irradiating of gemstones from 1993 to 2003. The most commonly irradiated gemstone is topaz, which becomes blue after the process. Blue topaz is very rare in nature and almost always the result of artificial irradiation. According to the American Gem Trade Association, approximately 30 million carats () of topaz are irradiated every"
"says: ""§ 23.23(c) It is unfair or deceptive to use the word ""laboratory-grown"", ""laboratory-created"", ""[manufacturer name]-created"", or ""synthetic"" with the name of any natural stone to describe any industry product unless such industry product has essentially the same optical, physical, and chemical properties as the stone named."" Emerald is regarded as the traditional birthstone for May as well as the traditional gemstone for the astrological signs of Cancer. One of the quainter anecdotes about emeralds was told by the 16th-century historian Brantôme, who referred to the many impressive emeralds the Spanish under Cortez had brought back to Europe from Latin"
"believed gemstones were a consequence of fermentation in the stars, where a diamond actually formed the kernel of gold-bearing mass. In fact often diamonds were linked to gold, which may have found its origin in the joint occurrence of diamonds with quartzite, quartz veins and an occasional occurrence of gold in them. In later times, Robert Boyle actually believed that gems (including a diamond) were formed of clear, transparent water, and that their colors and characteristics were derived from their metallic spirit. The diamond is the birthstone for people born in the month of April, and is also used as"
"overcrowded in the last decades of the century Simultaneously, giving a fancy diamond cut as a precious jewel on specific celebrations became a part of tradition. A ""Heart cut"" diamond has romantic symbolism so it is a common gift for Valentine's Day or wedding anniversary. The ""pear-shaped"" diamonds look like a drop of water and the shape is suitable for diamond earrings. The most famous shapes are: ""Princess, Cushion, Heart, Pear, Marquise, Radiant, Asscher cut, Emerald, Oval."" Developed ca. 1900, the ""round brilliant"" is the most popular cut given to diamond. It is usually the best choice in terms of"
"expansion of their rule they came in contact with different traditions of other people and places. This was aesthetically synthesized into collective culture. Jade is a gemstone with unique symbolic energy is known for its glossy surface, hardness and translucency. The term jade is commonly used to cover the nephrite, jadeite and chloromelanite groups of minerals, all of which are hard and attractively coloured. Bowenite is called ""False Jade"" or ""Jade look alike"" and is softer than true jade. Jade comes in attractive colours ranging across dark green, pale green, white and yellow. This precious stone mainly comes from the"
"as the sacred stone. Jet, shell (primarily mother-of-pearl), and coral are also frequently used. These materials and their associated colors are principle in the Zuni sunface, a cultural symbol which is present in Zuni jewelry and fetishes and represents their sun father. Other materials used are travertine or ""Zuni rock"", fishrock, jasper, pipestone, marble, or organic items such as fossilized ivory, bone, and deer or elk antler. Even artificial substances such as slag glass are used. But historically the most-used stone has been serpentine, a local soft stone found abundantly in the Zuni Mountains and also in Arizona. In recent"
"red, blue, green, yellow, brown, black, or (uncommon) violet. There is a unique natural white spinel, now lost, that surfaced briefly in what is now Sri Lanka. Some spinels are among the most famous gemstones; among them are the Black Prince's Ruby and the ""Timur ruby"" in the British Crown Jewels, and the ""Côte de Bretagne"", formerly from the French Crown jewels. The Samarian Spinel is the largest known spinel in the world, weighing . The transparent red spinels were called spinel-rubies or balas rubies. In the past, before the arrival of modern science, spinels and rubies were equally known"
"believed to range between $4 and $12 million USD. If sold at auction, it is likely that this stone would fetch a significantly higher price. Golden Jubilee Diamond The Golden Jubilee Diamond () is the largest cut and faceted diamond in the world. It weighs 545.67 carats (109.13 g). It outweighs the Cullinan I by 15.37 carats (3.07 g). The Golden Jubilee Diamond was discovered in the Premier Mine, which is also the origin of the Cullinan diamond (1905) and other notables such as the Taylor–Burton (1966) and the Centenary (1986). Cullinan I, also known as the Great Star of"
"are a popular substitute for diamond and are also known as ""Matura diamond"". The name derives from the Persian ""zargun"", meaning ""gold-hued"". This word is corrupted into ""jargoon"", a term applied to light-colored zircons. The English word ""zircon"" is derived from ""Zirkon"", which is the German adaptation of this word. Yellow, orange and red zircon is also known as ""hyacinth"", from the flower ""hyacinthus"", whose name is of Ancient Greek origin. Zircon is ubiquitous in the crust of Earth. It occurs as a common accessory mineral in igneous rocks (as primary crystallization products), in metamorphic rocks and as detrital grains"