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Aquamarine, 19th Wedding Anniversary

A deep blue cushion shaped aquamarine tops an irridescent blue Australian South Sea Pearl. View this lovely pendant here by clicking on the image.

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Padparadscha Sapphire, the rarest of Sapphires. The delicate color of the lotus flower.

Besides blue sapphire and ruby, the corundum family also includes “fancy sapphires.” They come in violet, green, yellow, orange, pink, purple, and intermediate hues. Shown here is the rarest of all, the Padparadscha. Some stones exhibit the phenomenon known as color change, most often going from blue in daylight or fluorescent lighting to purple under incandescent light. Sapphires can even be gray, brown, black, or white.

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Peridot, August Birthstone

Most gems are colored by impurities in the crystal. Peridot’s yellow-green is due to the presence of iron. Higher quality stones have an intense color. The best peridot is pure grass green. Most of the stones with the finest color come from Myanmar and Pakistan. Peridot has extremely high double refraction: when you look closely through the gem, you can see two of each pavilion facets.

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Pearl, a lustrous object

A pearl is a hard, glistening object produced within the soft tissue of a living shelled mollusk. Just like the shell, it is composed of calcium carbonate in minute crystalline form, called nacre, which has been deposited in concentric layers produced by the mollusk. The ideal pearl is perfectly round and smooth, but many other shapes, known as baroque pearls, can occur. The finest quality of natural pearls have been highly valued as gemstones and objects of beauty for many centuries. Because of this, the pearl has become a metaphor for something rare, fine, admirable, and valuable.

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Aquamarine, March Birthstone

Aquamarine – March Birthstone, 19th Wedding Anniversary. Aquamarine evokes the purity of crystalline waters and the exhilaration and relaxation of the sea. It is calming, soothing, and cleansing. It inspires truth, trust and letting go.