Aquamarine - March's Birthstone

Designers call it their favourite gemstone. It can be found Brazil, Nigeria, Zambia, Madagascar, Mozambique, Afghanistan and Pakistan. It’s a common birthstone to the Pisces.

Since early times, aquamarine has been believed to endow the wearer with foresight, courage, and happiness. It is said to increase intelligence and make one youthful. As a healing stone, it is said to be effective as a treatment for anxiety and in the Middle Ages it was thought that aquamarine would reduce the effect of poisons.

A legend says that sailors wore aquamarine gemstones to keep them safe and prevent seasickness.

Aquamarine has good hardness (7.5 to 8 on the Mohs scale) and a wonderful shine. That hardness makes it very tough and protects it to a large extent from scratches. The lucid gem colour makes it easy to see inclusions making quality an important consideration. Iron is the substance which gives aquamarine its colour, a colour which ranges from an almost indiscernible pale blue to a strong sea-blue. The more intense the colour of an aquamarine, the more value is put on it.

Aquamarine is not only used for jewelry but has been also used in the art world. The “Dom Pedro” is shown below and was cut by Bernd Munsteiner to create the 10,363 carat sculpture named, Waves of the Sea.