Amethyst
Color: Found in abundance, in its purest form, Amethyst is colorless. The finest quality Amethyst is medium to medium dark in tone, vivid in intensity, and purple, reddish purple to bluish purple in hue.
Heating removes the color from amethyst or changes it to the yellow of citrine. Most commercial citrine is made in this manner.

Description: SiO2 Amethyst is the most valuable transparent, coarse-grained variety of the silica mineral quartz that is valued as a semiprecious gem for its violet color. It contains more iron oxide Fe2O3 than any other variety of quartz, and experts believe that its color arises from its iron content. Other theories attribute the color to contained manganese or hydrocarbons.
All forms of quartz (including amethyst) are piezoelectric, making for important applications in electronics. Tourmaline is the only other gemstone that possesses this property.

The name's origin: Amethyst derives its name from Middle English amatist, from Old French, from Latin amethystus, from Greek amethustos, not drunk or intoxicating.

Birthstone: Amethyst is the birthstone of Aquarius (Water Bearer): Jan. 20 - Feb. 18

Wedding anniversary: Amethyst is anniversary gemstone for the 4th and 6th year of marriage.

Varieties: Oriental amethyst, or purple sapphire, is not quartz but a variety of corundum, a much harder and rarer stone.

Care and treatment: Amethyst often becomes paler if kept out in the sun. Clean your Amethyst in ultrasonic jewelry cleaner or with warm, soapy water and a soft bristle brush. Keep away from strong chemicals and avoid sudden temperature changes. Remember that in any type of repair involving heat, Amethyst must be removed from the setting.

From the stone history: The story of the origin of amethyst comes from Greek legends: The god of wine, Bacchus, was insulted one day by a mere mortal. He swore the next mortal that crossed his path, would be attacked by his fierce tigers. Along came a beautiful maiden named Amethyst. Goddess Diana turned Amethyst in a beautiful statue of quartz to save her from the tigers claws. Remorseful Bacchus wept tears of wine over the stone maiden, creating a lively purple stone.
Purple color has long been considered a royal color so it is not surprising that amethyst has been so popular through the history.

Fine amethysts are featured in the British Crown Jewels and were also a favorite of Catherine the Great and Egyptian royalty. There are evidences that around 3,000 B. C. in Egypt and in anterior Asia were made jewels of Amethyst.

The Amethyst is perhaps as popular today as it was in ancient time.

Garnet
Color: The versatile garnet comes in a virtual rainbow of colors, including pink, red, purple, orange, yellow, violet, green, colorless, occasionally black, brown and many shades of red and green. The most common color of garnets is reddish brown. Bohemian Garnet is deep red gemstone, Russian Demantoid and African Tsavorite are vibrant green.

Description: Pyrope: Mg3Al2[SiO4]3. Garnets are a group of common silicate minerals that have similar crystal structures and chemical compositions.
It can be translucent to transparent, sometimes opaque with a vitreous or resinous lustre. The best known type of garnet is red semi-precious stone pyrope, one of several red gems, which the ancients used to call Carbuncles.

Garnets are actually one of the largest families of gemstones. Most natural garnets are mixtures of two or more of the following pure species: pyrope, almandine, spessartine, uvarovite, grossular, andradite. Garnets occur in a very wide variety of formations, colors, and clarities.

The name's origin: Garnets were so called by the ancient Greeks since color reminded them of the pomegranate seed or granatum.

Birthstone: The garnet is considered to be the birthstone for Capricornus (Goat): Dec. 22 - Jan. 19.

Varieties: There are following major types of garnets: Almandine, Pyrope (also called Bohemian garnet, or Cape ruby), Spessartine, Grossular (also called grossularite, or Gooseberry garnet), Andradite, Rhodolite, Carbuncle, Hessonite (also called essonite, or Cinnamon stone), Topazolite, Uvarovite and Uralian emerald (or demantoid).

Care and treatment: Clean garnet with a dry soft cloth. As with all gemstones, care should be taken to protect it from scratches, sharp blows, harsh chemicals and extreme temperatures.

From the stone history: One of the world's most ancient gems, garnet has been treasured for thousands of years.

Use of garnets as gems is traced to the Nile Delta in 3100 B.C. Egytian artisans created beautifull garnet beads, bracelets and other jewelry. Garnets since ancient times used widely as an abrasive. Garnets are said to have been used by Asiatic tribes in place of bullets.
During the latter part of the 19th century, garnet bracelets and brooches were particularly popular. Most familiar during the peak of popularity were varieties of pyrope.
The hardness of garnets and their sharp fracture make them suitable as abrasives for wood, leather, glass, metals, and plastics.
Garnet varieties have become known by misleading names, frequently consisting of a locality with the name of another mineral variety, such as Uralian emerald or Cape ruby.

Amber
Color: Amber can vary in color from yellow to red, from green to blue, but amber's color is usually honey brown. The best commercial amber is transparent, but some varieties are cloudy.
Sometimes insects or pieces of earth, leaves, pine needles and inclusions of small plant and animal fossils are present in the amber.

Description: Amber is a fossilized tree resin of now-extinct conifer trees and ancient pine trees. It is an amorphous hydrocarbon and may contain particles of various foreign materials, trapped insects, and air bubbles. Its lustre is greasy to resinous. The resin must be several million years old to be called amber. Recently hardened resins are called copals.

The name's origin: Amber derives its name from Middle English ambre, from Middle French, from Medieval Latin ambra, from Arabic anbar ambergris.

Care and treatment: As amber is soft, it can be easily scratched. Be certain to store amber jewelry separately from your other jewelry.

From the stone history: Amber is treasured and used for centuries in jewelry. It was familiar to Paleolithic peoples and to the Greeks and Romans, who used it extensively in jewelry.
Amber has been used for decoration since the stone age. Amber is perhaps the oldest substance used for human adornment. Amber beads and pendants were found in Northern Europe gravesites dating back to 8000 B.C.E.

Opal
Color: Opal is fundamentally colorless, but such material is rarely found. Disseminated impurities generally impart to opal various dull body colors that range from the yellows and reds derived from iron oxides to black from manganese oxides and organic carbon.

The milkiness of many white and gray opals is attributable to an abundance of tiny gas-filled cavities in them. Precious opal reflects light with a play of brilliant colors across the visible spectrum, red being the most valued.

Description: Amorthous silica, SiO2 + nH2O, A solidified jelly so it has no crystal structure and contains up to 13% water. Precious opals are translucent to transparent and are distinguished by a combination of milky to pearly opalescence and an attractive play of many colors. These colors flash and change as a stone is viewed from different directions are caused by interference of light along minute cracks and other internal inhomogeneities.

Opal is extensively used as a gemstone. Various forms of common opal are widely mined for use as abrasives, insulation media, fillers, and ceramic ingredients.

The name's origin: The name opal is derived from the Latin word opalus, meaning seeing jewel. According to another theory the word opal comes from upala, a Sanskrit word simply meaning a stone.

Birthstone: Opal along with tourmaline are birthstones of Libra (Balance): Sept. 23 - Oct. 23.

Wedding anniversary: Opal is the anniversary gemstone for the 14th and 18th years of marriage.

Varieties: Black opal, with a very dark gray or blue to black body color, is particularly rare and highly prized. White opal has light body colors.

Fire opal is characterized by yellow, orange, or red body color. White and Fire opals are much more common.

Care and treatment: Opals develop crazing if they are exposured to sun and allowed to dry out. In addition to cracking, loss of water causes loss of iridescence, therefore they need to be oiled regulary to keep the water inside. Opal also must be protected from detergents that dry the gem. And always remember, opals can be fairly brittle because they contain water.

From the stone history: The most striking quality of opal is its ability to refract and reflect specific wavelengths of light. The interplay of different wavelengths of light gives opal its unique visual appeal, and makes it one of the most sought-after gemstones in the world at all times.

Precious opal has been a gemstone since Roman times. Opal was included among the noble gems and was ranked second only to emerald by the Romans. A beautiful opal called the orphanus was set in the crown of the Holy Roman Emperor. It was described "as though pure white snow flashed and sparked with the color of bright ruddy wine, and was overcome by this radiance." Opals are also set in the crown jewels of France.

Most opal is more than 60 million years old and generally dates back to the Cretaceous period when dinosaurs roamed the earth. Most of the precious opal marketed in ancient times was obtained from occurrences in what is now Slovakia.

Turquoise
Color: The color of turquoise ranges from sky blue through various shades of green to greenish and yellowish gray. Turquoise is opaque except in the thinnest splinters, and has a feeble, faintly waxy lustre.

Description: Turquoise, hydrated copper and aluminum phosphate [CuAl6(PO4)4(OH)8*4H2O], that is extensively used as a gemstone. Turquoise is a secondary mineral deposited from circulating waters, and it occurs chiefly as an opaque, granular vein running through a host rock.

The name's origin: The name turquoise undoubtedly comes from turc (Turkish in French) as it was transported to Europe through Turkey.

Birthstone: Turquoise along with zircon are birthstones of Sagittarius (Archer): Nov. 22-Dec. 21.

Wedding anniversary: Turquoise is the anniversary gemstone for the 5th year of marriage.

Care and treatment: The stone's color and lustre tend to deteriorate with exposure to sunlight, heat, or various weak acids. Avoid hot water and household chemicals. Turquoise is relatively soft so avoid scratches and sharp blows. Make sure certain coatings are not removed.

From the stone history: Turquoise with its blue hue, is among the oldest known gemstones. Turquoise was obtained from the Sinai Peninsula before the 4th millennium BC in one of the world's first important hard-rock mining operations. Turquoise started being used before 4000 BC.

Turquoise was an important ornamental mineral for jewelry and other object by the ancient Egyptians. It graced the necks of Egyptian Pharaohs and adorned the ceremonial dress of early native Americans. Turquoise has been attributed with healing powers as well as promoting the wearer's status and wealth. A very special stone indeed, Turquoise is a sacred stone to many American Indian tribes and has been used in various jewelry items.

Zircon
Stone's names: The orange variety of zircon is called jacinth.
Color: Zircon is known as a colorless stone used to imitate diamonds, but also comes in: blue, yellow, orange, red, brown and green.

Description: ZrSiO4 Zircon is a silicate mineral, zirconium silicate.
The high refractive index and dispersion of zircon cause it to approach diamond in fire and brilliancy. Zircon is widespread as an accessory mineral in acid igneous rocks, it also occurs in metamorphic rocks and, fairly often, in detrital deposits.

The name's origin: The name Zircon is originated from Persian Zargun which means "gold color".

Birthstone: Zircon along with turquoise are birthstones of Sagittarius (Archer): Nov. 22-Dec. 21.

Varieties: Zircon is quite widely used in its three varieties.

The first variety is called jacinth (also spelled hyacinth) and was used to a great extent in classical antiquity. It occurs in the clear, transparent red, orange, and yellow colors.
The blue variety is called starlite or Siam Zircon, while the third colorless variety is called Ceylon or Matura diamond.

Care and treatment: Zircon will chip and crack rather easily though it has a hardness rating of 7. As with all gems, protect zircon from scratches and sharp blows. Avoid hot water, sudden temperature changes and household chemicals. Store a jewelry made of zircon in separate boxes.

From the stone history: Zircon has been around in jewelry for hundreds of years. It is known for its high dispersion and for many years was used to imitate diamonds.

Moonstones
Color: Moonstones come in a variety of colors, ranging from colorless to white, gray, brown, yellow, orange, green, or pink. Clarity ranges from transparent to translucent.

Description: (K, Na) AlSi3O8, Moonstone (also called rainbow moonstone) is soft milky white stone, the most valuable variety of feldspar with an rainbow sheen. Moonstone shows a silvery or bluish iridescence, that is caused by the intergrowth of two different types of feldspar with different efractive indexes. The term moonstone also has been applied to the plagioclase feldspars peristerite and labradorite, which also exhibit iridescence.

The name's origin: The moonstone named for its semblance in color to the moon.

Birthstone: Moonstone along with alexandrite and pearls are birthstones of Gemini (Twins): May 21 - June 21.

Wedding anniversary: Moonstone is the 13th anniversary stone.

Care and treatment: Moonstone can be easily scratched as it has a hardness of 6. Store moonstones carefully and never allow two specimens to touch each other.

From the stone history: Moonstone was very popular with the Romans, who thought it was formed out of moonlight, also used in Roman jewelry since 100 AD. In India moonstone is considered a sacred stone to this day.

Tiger-eye or Cats-eye
Stone's names: Tiger eye, also spelled tiger's-eye and tigereye.
Tiger eye is also called crocidolite cat's-eye or African cat's-eye.
Color: Tiger eye has a rich yellow and golden brown stripes, with a fine golden lustre when polished.

Description: Tiger eye is quartz that contains oriented fibres of crocidolite that have been replaced by silica.

Tiger eye is displaying chatoyancy (a vertical luminescent band like that of a cat's eye) . Tiger eye typically has lustrous alternating yellow or brown bands.

The name's origin: Tiger eye with its bands resembles an eye of tiger, so it is received its name due to this similarity.

Wedding anniversary: Tiger Eye is the anniversary gemstone for the 9th year of marriage.

Varieties: Hawk's-eye is similar to tiger eye, except that the crocidolite was replaced by quartz before altering to iron oxide. It therefore retains the gray-blue or green of the asbestos.

Care and treatment: As with all gems, protect tiger eye from scratches and sharp blows. Also avoid large temperature changes.

From the stone history: Roman soldiers wore tiger's-eye for protection in battle. Tiger Eye was thought to be all seeing due to its appearance.