The Birth of Birthstones

The jewelry traditions to link a birth date to a particular stone and to accept the gem's ability to influence the wearer's life have historical support dated back to thousands of years ago. The idea of Gem Power was first cultivated in ancient India and Babylonia, where these ancient peoples ascribed many magical powers to gemstones, as a means of attunement to life forces and spiritual cleansing. Over the last 3500 years, both Jewish and Christian theologians have interpreted the significance of the 12 gems.




The current birthstone list was however quite new when compared to its profound history. The current list was established in Kansas City, Missouri of USA in 1912 when the National Association of Jewelers met to rework and revise the list that had been in use since the 1400's. The list of 1912 was one that had evolved over centuries and carried the influence of many eras and cultures. However, this revision has drawn much fire from gemstone purists who felt that the list was giving ways to commercialism. For instances, the list only carried six of the stones from the older list, and the moving of Ruby from being December's stone to July's and the addition of tourmaline as an October alternate were considered scandalous.




George Frederick Kunz, one of the great gemologists of in gemstone study, had blamed the commercial motives, but despite the objections, today's modern birthstone list is the list in use most around the world.





Birthstone List
January: Garnet
February: Amethyst
March: Aquamarine
April: Diamond
May: Emerald
June: Pearl
July: Ruby
August: Peridot
September: Sapphire
October: Opal
November: Citrine
December: Turquoise