Rebecca Zemans Jewelry Blog — moh's scale

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...

An alternative birthstone for March is Jasper, a gemstone known for its many colors and its beautiful and unique patterns. Jasper is often thought to be part of the chalcedony class of gemstones. However, it can contain up to 20% foreign material, which results in the beautiful patterns. This makes Jasper considered a group of its own. The Jasper is a 6.5 on the Mohs scale of hardness, which makes it a fairly hard gemstone.  The Jasper rarely comes in one uniform color. Most of the time these gemstones have streaks or spots of other colors, which results in many names for the...

Onyx, our alternative birthstone of the month, is a variety of microcrystalline quartz, called chalcedony and found worldwide. Onyx was used in Egypt as early as the Second Dynasty to make utilitarian items such as bowls. Today it is often used for ornamental carvings and jewelry. Onyx jewelry is commonly found with cut cabochons or beads. The piece we made with onyx features a faceted cut version.  The onyx is formed by deposits of silica in gas cavities found in lava and measures 7 on the Mohs Scale of Hardness. Because of the environment where the stone is formed, the...

The traditional birthstone for December is the beautiful turquoise. Turquoise has been considered a holy stone for thousands of years, and was worn in ancient times around the neck or hands in order to protect from sudden death--and to bring good luck. The turquoise has played a big role in jewelry and people's lives since as early as 3000 BC, when it was mined and worn by the Egyptians. People would wear turquoise in their turbans surrounded by pearls as a protection against the "evil eye." Turquoise was also often used as talismans or to adorn daggers and sabres. The...