Rebecca Zemans Jewelry Blog — Corundum

Tanzanite is a beautiful blue-violet crystal and is one of the birthstones for the month of December.  The blue color appears stronger under fluorescent light and the violet hues are more apparent when under incandescent lighting.  The mineral was first discovered in the Mererani Hills of northern Tanzania near Mount Kilimanjaro in 1967 and is extremely rare to find outside this region.  The mineral was named by Tiffany & Co in a campaign advertising that tanzanite could now be found in two places: "Tanzania and at Tiffany's". The tanzanite is predominantly blue gemstone, and is an affordable alternative to sapphire for...

Special occasions call for personalized design.  Jewelry is often a gift given to commemorate significant times in our lives - engagements, weddings, anniversaries, birthdays, push presents, and other milestones.     Without needing to go fully bespoke in design, the Family Jewelry Collection is a selection of our most popular jewelry designs showcasing birthstones.  Featuring elegant pendants and modern stacking rings, this collection has something to represent all the meaningful people of your life. All of these designs are able to be tailored to the amount and variety of stones to suit you needs, and forged in the recycled metal of your choice.  Click here...

The sapphire is often referred to as the ruby's sister. Why? Because they are both made out of the same material, the mineral corundum. Gemstones that belong to the corundum family, which are the hardest besides diamonds, consist of pure aluminum oxide, which over many years crystallized into beautiful colorless gemstones. Other elements such as iron and chrome are responsible for the sapphire's beautiful coloring. The word "sapphire" derives from the Latin "saphirus" and the Greek "sapheiros", meaning "blue." Although mostly known for its deep blue color, the sapphire can come in many other colors including red, orange, yellow, green and...

The word ruby comes from the Latin word "ruber" which means red. The ruby is a red variety of the mineral Corundum, which is one of the hardest minerals known to us and is found in metamorphic rock. Unless the gem is the color red, which it gets from traces of chromium, it is considered a sapphire. The ruby stands for heat and power and was often used as bullets for blowguns, to heat water or as a cure for indigestion. The ruby, which in Sanskrit is called "ratnaraj" meaning "King of Gemstones", was in ancient Indian thought to protect against misfortune...