Gemstones

Stones that are precious or semi- precious and are mined, cut, polished to be used in a piece of jewelry are Gemstones.

Gemstones we deal in:

Opal

Birthstone:

Opals are the birthstones for the month of October

Wedding Anniversary:

Opals are assigned to 14th wedding anniversary

Characteristics:

These gemstones are famous for the gleaming rainbow colors they produce. This play-of-color takes place because of the diffraction of light waves as they move between the stack of sub-microscopic spheres in opals. This only occurs in precious opals, however, not common opals.

Hardness:

They have a Mohs hardness of 5.5-6.5

How it is formed?

Opals are created when silica, present in sandstone, is transported by water over rocks. As the water evaporates, the silica deposits in the layers and cracks of sedimentary rock, below the earth. These deposits are later transformed into Opal

Mined in:

Today, over 90% of the Opal is supplied from Australia and some from Ethiopia, among other countries. Australia was the first to commercially distribute opals, starting in the 1890s. Around the 1990s, Ethiopia joined in as well.

Gem Bleu deals in Australian opals and Ethiopian opals.

Australian Opals

These opals receive their unique chemical and physical properties from the geothermal water which is located where the opals are found. Australian Opals are created with sandstone and ironstone. Australia has four main opal variations: precious opal, boulder opal, black opal, and rough opal. Although they naturally contain high amounts of water, they are not hydrophane. Hydrophane means that when submerged in water, transparency, light, colors and size are modified.

Ethiopian opals

       

These opals are grown differently than Australian opals. Rather than being found underground, they grow in volcanic deposits located in hills. These opals are hydrophane. The main types of Ethiopian opals are fire opals, precious opals, and hydrophane opals.

Aquamarine

 

Birthstone:

Aquamarines are a birthstone for March

Wedding Anniversary:

Aquamarines are assigned to 19th wedding anniversary

Characteristics:

They are a type of beryl gemstone. The colors available in the market range from greenish-blue to clear blue, although the natural color is usually a light pastel greenish-blue. With the addition of heat treatment, the appearance of the gemstones is changed to be more bluish.

Hardness:

Aquamarines have a Mohs hardness of 7.5-8

How it is formed?

They are created when pegmatites, rocks that are rich in minerals, are heated by magma. The pegmatites contain many cracks and fissures at this point and beryl crystals are created there. When the beryl is combined with small amounts of Iron, aquamarine is created.

Emerald

                     

Birthstone:

Emerald is the birthstone for May.

Wedding Anniversary:

They are assigned to the twentieth and thirty-fifth anniversaries.

Characteristics:

They are a type of beryl gemstone. Its color ranges from deep green to blue-green. There is, however, a lot of discussion and debate today about the degree of green a gemstone must be to be characterized as an emerald instead of simply a green beryl.

Hardness:

Emeralds have a Mohs hardness ranging from 7.5-8.

How it is formed?

They are created by four main elements: aluminum, silicon, oxygen, and beryllium. These elements are found in hydrothermal veins present in the Earth’s crust. When these hydrothermal veins are cold enough, emerald begins to form. This is not like aquamarine gemstones because unlike them, it only contains a small amount of chromium (in beryl).

Paraiba Tourmalines

                   

Birthstone:

Paraiba Tourmalines are the birthstone for October, like Opals.

Wedding Anniversary:

They are assigned to the eighth anniversary.

Characteristics:

Paraiba Tourmalines are a type of tourmaline gemstones. They are famous for their beautiful colors and have the widest color range compared to other gemstones.

Hardness:

Tourmalines have a Mohs hardness of 7.5

How it is formed?

Tourmalines are created when vapor and hot water transport the necessary elements to cracks in rocks. This causes them to be discovered in pegmatite rocks around the world. The different elements have an effect on the colors. Traces of manganese produce colors like pink and red. Iron and possibly titanium produce blue and green colors.

Treatment:

Paraiba Tourmalines, specifically, are different shades of green and blue. Sometimes, tourmalines undergo lab-induced radiation to be pink and yellow. They can also undergo heat treatment where the temperature ranges from 500-700 degrees Fahrenheit.

Colored Diamonds

                         

Birthstone:

Diamonds are the birthstone for April.

Wedding Anniversary:

They are assigned to the tenth and sixtieth anniversaries.

Characteristics:

Colored diamonds do not follow the regular diamond scale of the D-Z range, their colors are beyond the Z range. They are present in almost all colors like green, blue, red, and pink.

Hardness:

They have a Mohs hardness of 10, making them the hardest naturally occurring substance found in the world.

How it is formed?

Diamonds are formed under immense heat and pressure. This occurs for 1-3 billion years, and then kimberlite magma erupts from volcanoes and it causes the diamonds to surface.

Mined in:

Colored diamonds are mined all over the world.

Ruby

Birthstone:

Rubies are the birthstone for July.

Wedding Anniversary:

They are assigned to the fifteenth and fortieth anniversaries.

Characteristics:

Ruby is a type of gemstone from the corundum mineral species. Rubies are famous for their deep red color and are referred to as the “king of precious stones”.

Hardness:

Rubies have a Mohs hardness of 9.

How it is formed?

It is created from corundum being placed under tremendous pressure and extreme heat. The corundum is converted to a liquid and travels to the cracks of rocks. As it cools, the corundum remains colorless until it comes into contact with chromium, resulting in the red color of rubies

Tanzanite

       

Birthstone:

Tanzanite is the birthstone for December.

Wedding Anniversary:

It is assigned to the twenty-fourth anniversary.

Characteristics:

Tanzanite has a rich violet-blue color or purple hues. It is also pleochroic, meaning it changes colors when viewed from varying angles.

Hardness:

Tanzanite has a Mohs hardness of 6-6.5

How it is formed?

Tanzanite was formed when two igneous rock shelves with magma were combined. The minerals from each type of magma combined to make tanzanite. The magma was combined because of the continental plate movement. The minerals eventually made their way to the cracks in rocks and resulted in tanzanite.

Mined in:

This gem is extremely rare and is only found in the Mererani hills next to Mount Kilimanjaro, in Tanzania.

Sapphire

                

Birthstone:

Sapphire is the birthstone for September.

Wedding Anniversary:

It is assigned to the fifth and forty-fifth anniversaries.

Characteristics:

Sapphire, like ruby, is a type of gemstone from the corundum mineral species. There are many different kinds of sapphires: blue sapphires, fancy sapphires, and parti-colored sapphires. Blue sapphires can either be a pure blue or range from violetish-blue to greenish-blue. Fancy sapphires can be found in intermediate hues, violet, green, orange, yellow, pink, and purple. The parti-colored sapphires display combinations of various colors.

Sapphires have two special properties: color change and asterism. In the color change phenomenon, the sapphires change from blue to purple when the lighting changes from daylight/fluorescent lighting to incandescent light. An asterism is an appearance of a six-ray star pattern across the stone’s curved surface. This phenomenon occurs due to the reflection of white light from multiple, oriented needle-like inclusions.

Hardness:

Sapphire has a Mohs hardness of 9.

How it is formed?

Sapphires are created from corundum being placed under tremendous pressure and extreme heat. The corundum is converted to a liquid and travels to the cracks of rocks. As it cools, the corundum remains colorless until it comes into contact with trace elements like iron and titanium, resulting in blue sapphires. Different combinations of titanium, chromium, and iron with Corundum give the different colors of Sapphires.

Tsavorite

            

Birthstone:

Tsavorite is the birthstone for January.

Wedding Anniversary:

It is assigned to the second anniversary

Characteristics:

Tsavorite is a type of gem from the garnet family. Its color ranges from a yellowish-green to a deep green. The deep green color is caused by the trace elements chromium and vanadium.

Hardness:

Tsavorite has a Mohs hardness ranging from 7-7.5.

Mined in:

This gem is extremely rare and is only found on the border of Tanzania and Kenya.

Morganite

            

Characteristics:

Morganite is a type of beryl. Its colors range from pale pink to pinkish-violet, salmon, and peach.

Hardness:

Morganite has a Mohs hardness of 7.5-8.

Mined in:

The biggest mines are in Madagascar and Brazil.

Cambolite – Blue Zircon

Birthstone:

Cambolite is the birthstone for December.

Wedding Anniversary:

It is assigned to the twenty-second anniversary.

Characteristics:

It can be colorless or range from yellow, red, brownish-red, and blue.

Hardness:

It has a Mohs hardness ranging from 6-7.5.