Garnet Facts, Information and Description

The gemstone Garnet is the official birthstone for January as adopted by the American National Association of Jewelers in 1912. It is also the stone for the Zodiac sign Aquarius. See the birthstone tables for additional references to this stone and garnet birthstone jewelry for more information and links to handmade jewelry with garnets.
Garnet may be given as a gem on the 2nd and 6th wedding anniversary.
Garnet occurs in every color except blue and most varieties are named for their color. Rhodolite is a purplish red, hessonite is the name for an orange, cinnamon, or pinkish variety. Tsavorite is the name given to dark green grossularite. Uvarovite and demantoid are also green varieties. Pyrope garnets are purplish red, orangy red, crimson, or dark red. Spessartite garnets range from yellow and orange through red to reddish brown to dark black/brown. Color change garnets exhibit a "alexandrite-like" effect when viewed in natural light or artificial lighting. Garnets range from a 7.0 to 7.5 on the Mohs scale of hardness and are found in the U.S. (Arizona), South Africa, Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Myanmar (Burma), Scotland, Switzerland and Tanzania . Garnets are formed when high temperatures and/or pressure is a factor and geologists often use garnets as a gauge of the amount of temperature and pressure that was present during their formation.

Jade Facts, Information and Description

Jade is listed as the Mystical birthstone for the month of March and the birthstone for the Sun Sign Virgo. See the birthstone tables for additional references to this stone. Jade may be given as a gem on the 12th 30th and 35th wedding anniversary.
Jade is the term applied to forms of jadeite and nephrite. These minerals are similar in appearance and a distinction between the two often was not made. But, because of its more intense color and translucency, jadeite now brings higher prices and is thought to be the true jade The most valuable form of jade is known as imperial jade and comes from Myanmar, it is an emerald green color. Jades also appear in mottled green and white, and the rarer colors of yellow, pink, purple, and black. The range of greens are light to dark, creamy, grayish, and also white. A leek green variety called "Russian Jade" is found near Lake Baikal in Russia. Jade is also found in Mexico, and Central and South America. Because of its smooth even texture, jade has long been a preferred material for carving and is usually cut into cabochons for jewelry. The color of the stone is the most important factor but translucency and texture are important criteria determining price. Jade is a 6 1/2-7 on the Mohs scale of hardness.

Tourmaline Facts, Information and Description

The gemstone Tourmaline is the official birthstone for October as adopted by the American National Association of Jewelers in 1912. It also the tradidional birthstone for October, the stone for the Zodiac sign of Leo, and the accepted gem for the 8th wedding anniversary.
The name Tourmaline comes from the Sinhalese (Sri Lanka) word tura mali which translates as the stone of mixed colors. These stones are 7 to 7.5 on the Mohs’ scale of hardness.
Tourmaline is available in a wide variety of colors from black to bluish-black, dark brown, yellow, medium brown, blue to neon blue, lime to dark forrest green, red and reddish purple, yellow, pink, and colourless.
Bi-colored and multicoloured tourmalines may be green at one end and pink at the other, watermelon tourmalines are green on the outside and pink on the inside. Some stones are dichroic meaning they appear to change color when viewed from different angles.
The most expensive tourmalines are the blue indicolite, green verdelite and pink rubellite.
Cat's Eye Tourmaline exhibits a "cat;s eye" effect similar to what is commonly seen in tiger's eye cabochons. Chrome Tourmaline is colored by chromium resulting in a beautiful green stone that is often confused with emerald or the tsavorite garnet. Indicolite is a dark blueish black stone. The Paraiba tourmaline is a bright neon-blue and Rubellite is a deep reddish purple stone. Schorl is the name given to black tourmalines which are the most commonly found tourmalines.

Chinese Writing Stone Facts, Information and Description

This is a limestone matrix with andalusite crystals. It is also called Porphory. It received the name Chinese Writing Rock or Stone because of the crystalline structure resembling the Chinese characters of the written language.
The stone is known to be found in the Auburn, California region of the foothills of the Sierra Nevadas. It strongly resembles the Chrysanthemum stone, another limestone matrix and andalusite crystal stone from China, but the crystals in that stone spray out into a chrysanthemum pattern - hence the name. This stone comes from the Yangtze River Valley of the Hunan Province of China.Colors range from a very dark gray or almost black to creamy white, both of which have a slight greenish cast. A dramatic looking stone, it is a 5-6 on the Mohs scale.

Citrine Facts, Information and Description

The gemstone Citrine is the official birthstone for the month of November as adopted by the American National Association of Jewelers in 1912. It is also the Planetary stone for the Sun Sign of Virgo and the accepted gem for the 13th and 17th wedding anniversary. See the birthstone tables for additional references to this stone or citrine jewelry.
Citrine is a variety of quartz ranging in colors of yellow, yellow-brown, orange, dark orange-brown, reddish-brown. Citrine crystals can form together with amethyst or smoky quartz to form a bi-colored quartz called ametrine.
Almost all citrine that is available on the market today is heat-treated amethyst. Natural citrine is pale yellow to pale orange, much lighter than the heat-treated material which is dark orange-brown to reddish-brown. All of the heat-treated material has a red tint, while natural citrine does not.
Some amethyst deposits have been found where the amethyst was changed naturally by high temperatures to brown citrine.
Most citrine comes from Brazil, but almost all of the Brazilian material is heat-treated amethyst. Natural citrine can also be found in the Ural Mountains of Russia, in Dauphine, France, and in Madagascar. The inexpensive low grade amethyst is heated at high temperatures to produce the popular orange, reddish and sherry colored citrine. Darker colors are considered more valuable, including the medium golden orange and dark sherry-colors.
Citrine may be mistaken for the more expensive orangish-yellow topaz and, at times, may be sold as topaz by dishonest gemstone vendors. Due to this, citrine buyers are sometimes suspicious of any citrine and think it may actually be fake topaz.