Aquamarine

Aquamarine is an official birthstone for those born in March.  The name 'aquamarine' was derived from an old Latin expression which meant 'seawater'. 

The aquamarine is a semi-precious gem belonging to the beryl family, which includes emerald, morganite,  goshenite, heliodor, green beryl and bixbite. Aquamarine gemstones are graded using the same system as diamonds – by color, cut, clarity, and carat weight. It ranges in color from sea-foam green, to blue-green, to teal. The color is graded on its hue, tone, and saturation   Although different shades of aquamarine have been popular at certain times in history, currently the preferred color is a lovely sky-blue. Some greenish colored aquamarines are heat treated to improve their clarity and change their color to a light blue. Heat treatment is almost impossible to detect. The changes caused by the treatment are permanent. The treatment usually adds value to the gem because of the color improvement. Rated 7.8 on the Mohs hardness scale, aquamarine is soft enough to accommodate a wide variety of gemstone cutting styles and shapes. 

Non-gem quality aquamarine crystals have been found at weights up to several tons, the largest gem quality rough stone was found in Brazil in 1910 in the village of Minas Gerais. This 243-pound raw aquamarine was cut into more than 100,000 carats of finished gemstones!  The world’s largest cut aquamarine, named the Don Pedro, is exhibited at the Natural History Museum at the Smithsonian in Washington, D.C. 

Aquamarine requires no special treatment and is suitable for all kinds of jewelry, including daily-wear rings. Sometimes, rough, perfect, six-sided crystals are occasionally worn uncut as necklace pendants. In addition to rings, pendants and earrings, you can find aquamarine stones set as bracelets, necklaces, brooches and more.

• Spiritual: farsightedness, foresight
• Soul: bestows perseverance, discipline, light heartedness
• Mind: clears up confusion, helps to bring unfinished business to a conclusion
• Body: helps with allergies, hay fever, problems of the eyes, respiratory tract, thyroid gland and bladder