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History of Colored
Gemstones
For thousands of years humans have been dazzled and fascinated by colored
gemstones. The different colors of gems represented different aspects of the world
for our ancestors. Blue sapphires represented the sky and the heavens. Red rubies spoke
of fire and love. Green emeralds were representative of birth and life. Golden tourmalines
spoke of the sun.
As early as Roman times,
different gems represented nobility and
many aspects of human emotion
such as envy, pride, stubbornness, happiness,
temper, and humility. Interestingly,
some gemstones had different attributes
for men and women. For example: while rubies
meant love, strength and fire for men;
in women
rubies would signify anger, a short-temper
and mean-spiritedness!
Gems were attributed with
healing powers throughout the middle ages.
Different gems were looked upon to strengthen
and heal different parts of the body. Gems
were worn as amulets and also used to predict
the future and protect the wearer.
The
zodiac, in ancient China, was represented
by animals and gems, while Hindu legend
assigned powers to different stones and
arranged them by zodiacal signs. The bible
mentions
gemstones by name in both the old and
new testaments. Since Victorian times there
has been a language comprised of gemstones
wherein different gems mean different emotions
such as 'true love', 'constancy', 'unending
devotion', etc.
Today, most people know
their birthstone, and Natural Alexandrite birthstone of June, being one of the rarest. What most
don't know is that
there are lists
of
gems for
most aspects of our lives: anniversaries,
days of the week, states of the union,
seasons,
hours of the day, and many many more.
Today, gems are mainly worn
for their beauty and for our personal enjoyment.
Gemstones come in many colors, shapes,
and sizes; and differ greatly in quality
and pricing.
About Natural Alexandrite
Alexandrite was originally discovered in the Ural Mountains of Russia in 1830 and
named after the boy Czar, Alexander ll. The old Russian Imperial Colors were red and
green and so Alexandrite was only mined for the royalty at that time. The stones found
in Russia until 1850 or 1860 (before the mines played out) were considered the best
in color and quality in the world until the 1990's.
In the 1990's, excellent quality stones
were discovered in Sri Lanka, Ceylon, India,
Brazil, Burma, Madagascar, Zimbabwe, and
Tanzania . The stones from each area have
their own characteristics: such as the
green color having yellowish tones and
the color-change having brownish or raspberry
tones from Brazil; and grayish undertones
from Ceylon stones.
Recently, excellent quality stones have
been found in Sri Lanka, India, and the
Tanduru region of Tanzania with all the
color and life of an ideal Russian Alexandrite.
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