August Birthstone Peridot
Peridot hails from the French word peritot, which means unclear. It is generally a lime green color and is often called the Evening Emerald because the gem appears greener under artificial lights. In fact during the Middle Ages, Crusaders who went to the Middle East from Europe brought the gem back, thinking it was an emerald. Zabargad, an island in the Red Sea that is also known as St. Johns, has been mined for peridots since ancient times. Interestingly enough, the word, zabargad, means olivine in the Arabic language. Turkish sultans of the Ottoman Empire collected these gems. In the Topkapi Museum in modern-day Istanbul, there lies a golden throne which is decorated with almost 1,000 of these precious stones. Wonderful varieties of peridot can be found in Burma, Brazil, Germany, Mexico, Ethiopa, Pakistan and Oahu, one of the Hawaiian Islands. The Hawaiians actually revere the gem. They believe it is symbolic of the goddess Pele's tears. The peridot was once thought to bring power and influence to the owner. Ground up, the gem was taken internally as a treatment for asthma. The stone has also been used to induce sleep, attract love and calm anger. Birthstones: January - February - March - April - May - June - July - August - September - October - November - DecemberDiscount August Birthstone Jewelry |
The birthstone for the month of August is peridot. It's also used as a 16th wedding anniversary gift. The peridot, which ranks between 6.5 and 7 on the Mohs scale of hardness, is a variety of olivine. Olivine is a composite of two other minerals, fayalite, which is rich in iron, and forsterite, which is magesium-rich. The iron in fayalite is what gives the peridot its unique color.