The Birthstone Collection:Emerald FOTM

Hello Everyone! I owe you an apology! I forgot to blog this yesterday! I was soooo proud of myself for having her finished on the 15th, and I go and forget to release her. All apologies! I have waaaay too much on my mind these days! I won't delay the release a second longer...

Download Emerald

and here are your Emerald fun facts:

Fact 1 - Definition: Emeralds are precious stones of a rich green color, a variety of beryl (beryllium aluminum silicate) that has been cut and polished and is valued as a precious gemstone

Fact 2 - The origin of the name Emerald is derived from the Greek word "Smaragdos" which means "green stone" reflecting the color of the emerald

Fact 3 - The most common color of Emeralds is green

Fact 4 - The Emerald is the birthstone of the month of May which relates to the Zodiac Sign of Taurus. Taurus dates: April 21 - May 20

Fact 5 - The alternative Birthstones for Taurus are Sapphires, Garnet, Agate and Diamonds

Fact 6 - The symbolism associated with Emeralds is as follows:

Loyalty

Faithfulness

Friendship

Fact 7 - Emeralds are also the Wedding anniversary gemstone and are given as gifts for the 20th, 35th and 55th year of marriage

Fact 8 - Emeralds come in a vast range of natural colors and shades of green. Elements of chromium in the crystal produce the color

Fact 9 - The color is mainly determined and caused by the gem's selective absorption of certain wavelengths of light called the body color.

Fact 10 - The colors of the Emerald gem consist of three components, the hue, tone and saturation:

The Hue which gives the first impression of the color

The Tone which relates to the the lightness or darkness of the color of the Emerald ranging from light to medium to dark

The saturation which relates to the intensity of the Emerald's color, which is measured from dull to strong to vivid

Fact 11 - The grades of emeralds are usually referred to as Commercial, Good, Fine, and Extra Fine. Each grade represents a range of qualities

Fact 12 - All gemstones, including Emeralds, are graded by color, cut, clarity and carat weight

Fact 13 - The tradition of giving gifts of birthstone jewelry containing Emeralds dates back many hundreds of years

Fact 14 - There are specific birthstones and gemstones, such as Emeralds, which are traditionally given according to the month that a person is born

Fact 15 - Pure crystals of Emerald are used as gemstones. The crystal structure of Emeralds are hexagonal.

Happy Birthday May Babies!

See you next month!