What are the Birthstones?

January - Garnet (any color)
February - Amethyst
March - Aquamarine
April - Diamond
May - Emerald
June - Alexandrite or Pearl
July - Ruby
August - Peridot
September - Sapphire (any color except Ruby)
October - Opal or Pink Tourmaline
November - Imperial Topaz or Citrine
December - Blue Zircon, Turquoise, newly Tanzanite

I hear the term Precious and Semi-Precious used for colored stones. What does this mean?

Traditionally, there were Precious stones and Semi-Precious stones. Precious stones were Ruby, Emerald, and Sapphire. They were commonly the most expensive colored stones, and also the most well known. Semi Precious was everything else. However, these are outdated and inaccurate terms that suggested a two-tier ranking in the gem kingdom: the exalted status of "precious," and an inferior category of "semi-precious." In today's colored stone market, there are hundreds of lesser known gemstones, such as Tsavorite Garnet (Green Garnet) that are beautiful, rare, and can be fairly expensive ($500.00 per carat). Or how about a very popular stone, Tanzanite? It is also very beautiful, fairly rare, widely popular, and can cost as much as $1,000.00 per carat for very high quality. How can you call these beautiful stones "semi-precious" when they may cost you hundreds or thousands of dollars for a nice sized stone?

What is a Synthetic Gemstone?

A synthetic gemstone is a gemstone grown in a laboratory instead of in nature. These gems are identical in chemical composition to the natural stone. If you have a natural ruby and a synthetic ruby next to each other, they are both "ruby," yet one is formed for millions of years in the ground and one is grown in a lab with human intervention.

What kind of treatments or enhancements are done on colored stones?

There are many different types of treatments or enhancements performed on colored stones. These treatments/enhancements are processes other than cutting and polishing that improves the appearance (color/clarity), durability, or availability of a gemstone (from American Gem Trade Assoc). Some treatments are detectable and some are not. Many stones are commonly treated and are very rarely seen without some type of treatment. For example, Tanzanites are always heat treated to change it from its natural brown to the beautiful blue/purple stone we know it as today.

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