What is the birthstone for March?

Aquamarine

The serenely colored aquamarine invokes the tranquility of its namesake, the sea. In fact, the name “aquamarine” is derived from the Latin word aqua, meaning water, and marina, meaning the sea.

Aquamarine is most often light in tone and ranges from greenish blue to blue-green. The color is usually more intense in larger stones, and darker blue stones are very valuable. This gemstone is mined mainly in Brazil, but it is also found in Nigeria, Madagascar, Zambia, Pakistan, and Mozambique.

Like emeralds, this gemstone is a variety of a mineral called beryl. Large gemstones have been found all over the world, including one gemstone found in Brazil that weighed over 240 pounds. Aquamarine grows in large, six-sided crystals that can be up to a foot long. This makes it a great gemstone to be cut and polished in larger carats for bold statement jewelry pieces.

Not only is aquamarine one of the March birthstones, it’s also used to celebrate 19th wedding anniversaries. It’s a beautiful gemstone with little or no yellow in it, so it looks great in many settings with different colored metals and gemstones.

History of Aquamarine

With colors ranging from light blue to dark blue and even blue-green, aquamarine has been linked to water and the seas throughout history.

Roman fishermen called the gemstone “water of the sea” and used it as protection, for safe travel by boat, and for luck in catching fish. Aquamarine was linked to the apostle St. Thomas who frequently traveled by boat. Roman physicians also used it to treat overeating and bloating.

The Sumerians, Egyptians, Hebrews, and Greeks all admired aquamarine gemstones. Beads were discovered with Egyptian mummies. And it was believed that the High Priest of the Second Temple wore aquamarine stones engraved with the six tribes of Israel. Two thousand years ago, people in Greece engraved designs into aquamarine stones, turning them into intaglios.

Bloodstone

The second birthstone for March is bloodstone, a dark-green gemstone flecked with vivid red spots of iron oxide. Generally found embedded in rocks or riverbeds as pebbles, primary sources for this gemstone are India, Brazil, and Australia.

Bloodstone is also called heliotrope, a word from the ancient Greek that means “to turn the sun.” Many believe it was probably named as such because of ancient ideas about how minerals reflect light. In fact, some believed that the sun itself would turn red if this gemstone was put into water.

Bloodstone is sometimes known by another name—Blood Jasper—although it’s actually chalcedony, which is a cryptocrystalline quartz. There are two forms of bloodstone: heliotrope, which is more transparent with red spots, and plasma, which is more opaque and has little or no red spots.

For those looking for good-quality bloodstone gems, a solid green color with visible veins of red is usually considered the best. It also comes in many shapes and cuts, including traditional cuts like emerald, oval, and cushion.