Semi-precious Stones

Aquamarine
Aquamarine, Latin word means water of the sea. The name is derived due to a delicate blue or bluish-green color, similar to the sea-water. A dark blue is the most desired color.

Aquamarine is mainly found in Brazil, Siberia, the Union of Myanmar, Madagascar, and parts of the United States. It is brittle and sensitive to pressure although it carries a rate of 7.5 - 8 in Mohs scale of hardness.

The Aquamarine is considered as the lucky stone of the sailors and it also bring love and affection. Its supernatural powers gave a person with the gem in his or her mouth the ability to summon the Devil and get questions answered. It is also the birthstone of October.

Topaz
Topaz is derived from the Greek topazos, "to seek", which was the name of an island Zebirget in the Red Sea. Yellow with a pass is most frequent in the reddish; most valuable is the natural colored rose topaz. Blue tones are rare; most frequently colorless.

Topaz is mainly found in Russia, Burma, Brazil, Australia, Mexico, Sri Lanka and United States. Light blue topazes are found also in Northern Ireland, Scotland and Cornwall, England. Topaz carries a rating of 8 in Mohs scale of hardness.

Topaz was thought to have amazing medicinal powers, even against the plague. It is a symbol of love and fidelity in the Middle Ages, and it believed to bring patience and pleasant disposition. Besides, it is treated as birthstone of November.

Amethyst
Amethyst is derived from the Greek a "not" and methuskein "to intoxicate" expressing the old belief that the stone protected its owner from drunkenness. It is normally violet to purple in color and considered most highly valued gemstone in the quartz group.

Amethyst is mainly found in Brazil, Uruguay, Sri Lanka, Burma, Madagascar, India and parts of North America. It carries a rating of 7 in Mohs scale of hardness.

Amethyst is supposed to bring peace of mind and is treated as birthstone of February.

Citrine
Citrine is derived from its lemon yellow color. It is a form of quartz with ferric iron impurities, and is rarely found naturally. The coloring agent is iron. Natural citrines are mostly in pale yellow color.

Citrine is mainly found in Brazil, Spain, Madagascar, Burma and the United State. Brazil is the leading producer of naturally mined citrine, with much of its production coming from the state of Rio Grande do Sul. Citrine carries a rating of 7 in Mohs scale of hardness.

In ancient times, citrine was possessed as a protection against snake venom and evil thoughts. Its powers caused the wearer to be lighthearted, cheerful and hopeful. It was thought to relax people and purify the body, making them look healthy and feel happy.

Peridot
Peridot is derives from the Arabic word faridat (gem). The name commonly used in mineralogy is olivine (because of its olive-green color). It is one of the few gemstones that come in only one color. The depth of green color depends on the iron contained on it. Peridot is often referred to as "poor man's emerald".

Peridot is mainly found in Burma, Australia, Brazil, Sri Lanka, South Africa and Pakistan. Peridot was brought to Central Europe by the crusaders in the Middle Ages and was often used for ecclesiastical purposes. It was the most popular stone during the Baroque period. Peridot carries a rating of 6.5 in Mohs scale of hardness.

Peridot is the birthstone for the month of September and it was thought to bring its wearer success, peace, and good luck.

Opal
Opal is derived from an Indian (Sanskrit) word for "stone". Opals are divided into three subgroups: the precious opals, the yellow-red fire opals, and the common opals.

Precious opal's special characteristic is their play-of-color, which means a display of rainbow-like hues which changes with the angle of observation. This is the result of a specific internal structure consisting of regularly packed uniform spheres of amorphous silica a few tenths of a micron in diameter; sphere diameter and refractive index determine the range of colors displayed. The main supply for precious opal is from the Coober Pedy and Andamooka fields in South Australia. Precious opal has also been mined in Honduras, Mexico, and the Virgin Valley in Nevada.

Yellow-red fire opal is a bright red-orange transparent or translucent opal that normally either or not shows the effect of play of color. It is usually milky and turbid. These types of opals are mainly found in Mexico, Brazil, Guatemala, Western Australia, and the United States.

Common opal has no particular value and usually colorless or white. The color is formed due to fine-grained impurities. Opal carries a rating of 5.5 - 6.5 in Mohs scale of hardness. Opal is treated as birthstone of October.

Garnet
Garnet derives from the Latin granatus, a grain possibly in reference to malum garanatum (pomegranate) a plant with red seeds similar in shape, size and color to some garnet crystals. It is hard but somehow brittle, certain impact will caused the stone to crack.

There are six common varieties of garnet based on their chemical composition. They are pyrope, almandine, spessartite, grossularite, uvarovite and andradite. Garnet carries a rating of 6.5 - 7.5 in Mohs scale of hardness.

a) Almandite
Almandite or almandine is derived from the Latin meaning "little spark". Chemically, almandite is an iron-aluminium garnet with the formula Fe3Al2(SiO4)3. Almandine garnet, the most common type, is dark red to brownish-red.

Almandites are commonly found in Brazil, India, Sri Lanka, Australia and parts of United States. Almandite has nicknames of Oriental garnet.

b) Pyrope
Pyrope is derived from Latin pyropos, means similar to fire. Chemically, pyrope is a magnesium aluminum silicate with the formula Mg3Al2(SiO4)3, though the magnesium can be replaced in part by calcium and ferrous iron. The color of pyrope is normally ruby-red and it varies from deep red to almost black. It was the fashion stone of the 18th and 19th centuries.

A variety of pyrope from Macon County, North Carolina is a violet-red color gemstone called rhodolite, derives from Greek meaning "a rose". Chemically it is considered as a mixture of pyrope and almandite, in the proportion of two parts pyrope to one part almandite.

Pyrope is an indicator mineral for high pressure rocks. The garnets from mantle derived rocks, peridotites and eclogites, commonly contain a pyrope variety. Finer pyrope may resemble a ruby.

c) Spessartite
Spessartite derived from occurrence in the spessart (= forest), Germany. Chemically spessartite is manganese aluminum garnet, Mn3Al2(SiO4)3. Spessartine garnet is normally in reddish-brown to yellow orange color.

Spessartite of a beautiful orange-yellow is found in Madagascar. Violet-red spessartites are found in rhyolites in Colorado and Maine. A brown to brownish-red garnet from Bavaria, Sri Lanka, and parts of the United States, is seldom used for jewelry.

d) Andradite
Andradite is named after a Portuguese mineralogist. Chemically it is a calcium-iron garnet, Ca3Fe2(SiO4)3, is of variable composition and may be red, yellow, brown, green or black.

There are 3 sub varieties available namely topazolite (yellow or green), demantoid (green) and melantite (black). Andradite is found both in deep-seated igneous rocks like syenite as well as serpentines, schists, and crystalline limestone. Demantoid has been named as "emerald of the Urals" from its occurrence there, and is one of the most prized of garnet varieties. Topazolite is a golden yellow variety and melanite is a black variety.

e) Grossularite
Grossularite is derived from the botanical name for the gooseberry, grossularia, in reference to the green garnet of this composition that is found in Siberia (Russia). Chemically Grossularite is a calcium-aluminum garnet with the formula Ca3Al2(SiO4)3, though the calcium may in part be replaced by ferrous iron and the aluminum by ferric iron. Grossular garnet, the most colorful of the garnet family, comes in various shades of yellow, orange, green and brown.

Grossularite is found in contact metamorphosed limestones with vesuvianite, diopside, wollastonite and wernerite. Green grossular garnet, found mainly in Tanzania and Kenya, is known as tsavorite garnet.

f) Uvarovite
Uvarovite is named after a Russian statesman. This is a rare type of garnet, bright green in color, usually found as small crystals associated with chromite in peridotite, serpentinite, and kimberlites. It is mainly found in crystalline marbles and schists in the Ural Mountains of Russia and Outukompu, Finland.

Tourmaline
Tourmaline is given a Sinhalese name, turamali, which means "stone with mixed colors". Tourmaline normally occurs in prismatic crystals, either in three sided, six sided, nine sided and striated vertically. There are few variations namely rubellite (red and pink color), indicolite (blue), Brazilian emerald (Green) and schorl (Black). Other colors that tourmaline would have is yellow, violet-red or colorless. Schorl is the most common variety of tourmaline and accounted for 95% or more of all tourmaline in nature.

Tourmaline is mainly found in Elba, Madagascar, Myanmar, Sri Lanka, the Urals, Siberia, Brazil, and Maine, Connecticut, and California in the United States. Most of the time, there would be a mixture of two or more colors in the same stone arranged in zones or bands with boundaries between them. It carries a rating of 7 in Mohs scale of hardness. In addition, Tourmaline is also the birthstone of March.

Zircon
Zircon is derives from the Arabic word zarqun, meaning vermilion, or perhaps from the Persian zargun, meaning golden-colored. Zircon is belonging to a mineral group called nesosilicates. Naturally, zircon color varies from colorless, yellow-golden, red, brown or green. Yellow Zircon is called hyacinth derives from a word of East Indian origin. Colorless Zircon is somehow a popular substitution for diamond.

Zircon is mainly in Sri Lanka, Thailand, India, Madagascar, Canada and the United States. Zircon carries a rating of 6.5-7.5 in Mohs scale of hardness. It is the birthstone for December as well.

Pearl
Pearl is derives from a type of shell (Latin-perna) or from its spherical shape (Latin-sphaerula). Pearl is built up of layers of aragonite or calcite held together by conchiolin (a horny organic substance). Pearl is valued as a gemstone and may be appear in the shape of rice-shaped, round, pear-shaped, button-shaped, or irregular.

Pearls are usually appeared in white, a creamy or pinkish tinge, but may be tinted with yellow, green, blue, brown, purple, or black. Black pearls are highly valued because of their rarity. Besides, Pearl are not cut or polished like other type of gemstone. They are very soft and can be easily injured by acids and heat.

Pearls are mainly found in the coasts of India, China, Japan, Australia, the Sulu Archipelago, various Pacific islands, Venezuela, and Central America, and the rivers of Europe and North America.

There are some imitation pearls in the market simply made of mother-of pearl, coral or conch. Although the imitation looks alike the natural pearl, in terms of their luster and dimmer as compared to original pearl. In addition, they do not have the same weight or smoothness as natural pearl. Pearl carries a rating of only 2.5 - 4.5 in Mohs scale of hardness. It is also the birthstone of June.