Year: 2019
Topaz is a silicate mineral of aluminium and fluorine. It is one of the hardest naturally occurring minerals (Mohs hardness of 8) and is the hardest of any silicate mineral. This hardness combined with its usual transparency and variety of colors means that it has acquired wide use in jewellery as a cut gemstone.
It actually has an exceptionally wide color range that, besides brown, includes various tones and saturations of blue, green, yellow, orange, brown, red, pink, and purple.
Topaz can be found in many parts of the world. Its largest and finest specimens have been found in Minas Gerais, Brazil. Also in Pakistan, Mexico, the Ural Mountains in Russia and the states of Colorado, Utah and California USA.
Yellow topaz is the birthstone of November.
Spiritual Properties of topaz:
- Attracts love, good friends and partners. It leads to success and happiness.
- Helps us fight all kinds of phobia and anxiety, thereby improving our lives and giving us courage and confidence.
- It gives a feeling of peace and tranquility, improves mood and helps in artistic creation.
Healing properties of topaz:
- Has excellent effects against any diseases of the circulatory system, protects against thrombosis and cures hemorrhoids and bleeding.
- Regenerates tissues and enhances clarity of vision.
- Regulates metabolism, strengthens us from a period of intense exhaustion and stimulates the immune and nervous systems.
Opal is a hydrated amorphous form of silica (SiO2·nH2O); its water content may range from 3 to 21% by weight, but is usually between 6 and 10%. The internal structure of precious opal causes it to diffract light, resulting in play-of-color. Play-of-color is defined as “a pseudochromatic optical effect resulting in flashes of colored light from certain minerals, as they are turned in white light”.
The word ‘opal’ is adapted from the Latin term opalus. Opal is considered the birthstone for people born in October.
In the Middle Ages, opal was considered a stone that could provide great luck because it was believed to possess all the virtues of each gemstone whose color was represented in the color spectrum of the opal. It was also said to grant invisibility if wrapped in a fresh bay leaf and held in the hand.
The stone is found in many colors such as blue opal, white, black, fire opal. The main source of opal is Australia, which is often cited as representing 95-97% of world supply. Other mining areas are Ethiopia, Nevada in the US and Mexico.
Spiritual properties of opal
- Opal is believed to attract money, abundance, and succeed in the financial sector.
- Gives fortune, love, power, positive thoughts, endurance, faith and forgiveness.
- Relieves oppressed emotions, sadness and removes melancholy.
Healing properties of opal
- Has the ability to protect the eyes and strengthen the heart.
- Works therapeutically against infections and viruses, facilitates purification of blood and kidneys.
- • Used for the treatment of stomach and intestine.
The sapphire is one of the 4 precious gems (diamond, ruby, sapphire, and emerald). It belongs to the mineral corundum and is regarded as the stone of the month of September. Its name derives from the ancient Greek word “sapphire”. Its blue colour, which is the most common color for sapphire, is mainly due to the presence of iron and titanium, pink colour is due to the presence of some chromium trace elements, while chromium in large quantities gives the sapphire a bright red color, where in this case it is characterized as a ruby. It is the second hardest mineral after the diamond on the Mohs scale (mineral hardness measurement scale) as its value is 9 (with a maximum of 10).
The value of the sapphire is mostly determined by its color. The more intense the color, the more valuable and expensive it is. Sapphires called “Star” have small rutile chips (TiO2) internally and together with elongated pits create asteroids and are considered to be the most impressive and expensive.
The largest sapphire deposits are found in Sri Lanka, Australia (Queensland), South Africa, India, Madagascar, Thailand and the USA. (North Carolina).
Spiritual properties of the sapphire
- It enhances intuition and wisdom
- It brings joy, happiness and balance
- It is said that sapphire brings luck and happiness
- It is the gemstone that enhances love and friendship
- Sapphire is the stone of truth and sincerity
Healing properties of sapphire
- Calms the nerves and the mind
- Heals circulatory system malfunctions
- Strengthens memory and relieves depression and mental disorder.
Peridot is a gem-quality Olivine. Its name derives from the Latin word olive because of its oil-green color. Peridot is a transparent green variety which is used as a semiprecious stone.
Peridot is one of the few gemstones that occur in only one color: an olive-green. The intensity and tint of the green, however, depends on the percentage of iron in the crystal structure.
Historically the most important Olivine deposits were located in Egypt, on the Red Sea island of Zabirget, which was mined 3500 years ago. It was later used in ecclesiastical jewelry and objects. Olivine deposits are also found in Burma and Brazil.
Peridot is the birthstone for the month of August.
Properties of Peridot
- The peridot fits the intellectuals
- Is semiprecious stone of lightness and beauty
- It protects against negative emotions and promotes peace and happiness
- It may be useful to find things you have lost
- Increases patience and persistence
- Protects from evil spirits
- It helps heal wounded feelings and increases confidence
- It protects from nightmares and helps to make our dreams reality
- It helps to problems in speech and enhances the power of speech
A ruby is a pink to blood-red colored gemstone, a variety of the mineral corundum. Other varieties of gem-quality corundum are called sapphires. The word ruby comes from ruber, Latin for red. The color of a ruby is due to the element chromium. Rubies are the second harder gemstone on earth after diamond. They have a hardness of 9.0 on the Mohs scale of mineral hardness (out of 10.0).
The quality of a ruby is determined by its color, cut, and clarity, which, along with carat weight, affect its value. The brightest and most valuable shade of red called blood-red or pigeon blood, commands a large premium over other rubies of similar quality. After color follows clarity: similar to diamonds, a clear stone will command a premium, but a ruby without any needle-like rutile inclusions may indicate that the stone has been treated. Ruby is the traditional birthstone for July and is usually pinker than garnet, although some rhodolite garnets have a similar pinkish hue to most rubies. The world’s most valuable ruby is the Sunrise Ruby.
The Mogok Valley in Upper Myanmar (Burma) was for centuries the world’s main source for rubies. That region has produced some exceptional rubies, however in recent years few good rubies have been found. In central Myanmar, the area of Mong Hsu began producing rubies during the 1990s and rapidly became the world’s main ruby mining area. The most recently found ruby deposit in Myanmar is in Namya (Namyazeik) located in the northern state of Kachin. Rubies are also mined in Afghanistan and Pakistan. In Pakistani Kashmir there are vast proven reserves of millions of rubies, worth up to half a billion dollars. However, as of 2017 there was only one mine (at Chitta Katha) due to lack of investment. In Afghanistan, rubies are mined at Jegdalek. In Sri Lanka, lighter shades of rubies (often “pink sapphires”) are more commonly found.
Ruby is the perfect gift for the 40th wedding anniversary as it symbolizes love, health and wisdom.
Spiritual properties of the ruby
- Encourages passion and appetite for life
- Protects love
- Helps to maintain wealth
- Overwhelms exhaustion and gives strength and vigor
Healing properties of ruby
- Detoxifies the body and blood
- It treats fevers and infectious diseases
- In antiquity it was used as an antidote for poison
- It brings fertility
The Hope Diamond is one of the most famous jewels in the world, with ownership records dating back almost four centuries. Its much-admired rare blue color is due to trace amounts of boron atoms. Weighing 45.52 carats, its exceptional size has revealed new findings about the formation of gemstones.
The jewel is believed to have originated in India, where the original (larger) stone was purchased in 1666 by French gem merchant Jean-Baptiste Tavernier as the Tavernier Blue. The Tavernier Blue was cut and yielded the French Blue (Le bleu de France), which Tavernier sold to King Louis XIV in 1668. Stolen in 1791, it was recut, with the largest section acquiring its “Hope” name when it appeared in the catalogue of a gem collection owned by a London banking family called Hope in 1839. After going through numerous owners, it was sold to Washington socialite Evalyn Walsh McLean, who was often seen wearing it. It was purchased in 1949 by New York gem merchant Harry Winston, who toured it for a number of years before giving it to the National Museum of Natural History in 1958, where it has since remained on permanent exhibition.
The Hope Diamond has long been rumored to carry a curse, possibly due to agents trying to arouse interest in the stone. It was last reported to be insured for $250 million.
Evil eye
The evil eye is a look that is superstitiously believed by many cultures to be able to cause injury or bad luck for the person at whom it is directed for reasons of envy or dislike. The term also refers to the power attributed to certain persons of inflicting injury or bad luck by such an envious or ill-wishing look.
Mediterranean cultures and many others around the world believe in the concept of the “evil eye.” Symptoms may include diarrhea, constant crying, and, in some cases, even death. It usually affects infants and children, however, adults can also be affected.
The idea expressed by the term causes many cultures to pursue protective measures against it. The concept and its significance vary widely among different cultures. The idea appears several times in translations of the Old Testament. It was a widely extended belief between many Mediterranean tribes and cultures: Classical Greece probably learned this belief from ancient Egypt, and later passed it to ancient Rome.
Forms of belief
In some forms, it is the belief that some people can bestow a curse on victims by the malevolent gaze of their magical eye. The most common form, however, attributes the cause to envy, with the envious person casting the evil eye doing so unintentionally. Also the effects on victims vary. Some cultures report afflictions with bad luck; others believe the evil eye may cause disease, wasting, or even death. In most cultures, the primary victims are thought to be babies and young children, because they are so often praised and commented upon by strangers or by childless women.
In many beliefs, a person—otherwise not malefic in any way—can harm adults, children, livestock or possessions, simply by looking at them with envy. The word “evil” is somewhat misleading in this context, because it suggests an intentional “curse” on the victim. A better understanding of the term “evil eye” can be gained from the old English word for casting the evil eye, namely “overlooking”, implying that the gaze has remained focused on the coveted object, person, or animal for too long.
While some cultures hold that the evil eye is an involuntary jinx cast unintentionally by people unlucky enough to be cursed with the power to bestow it by their gaze, others hold that, while perhaps not strictly voluntary, the power is called forth by the sin of envy.
History
The amount of literary and archeological evidence attests to the belief in the evil eye in the eastern Mediterranean for millennia starting with Hesiod, Callimachus, Plato, Diodorus Siculus, Theocritus, Plutarch, Heliodorus, Pliny the Elder, and Aulus Gellius. Studying these written sources in order to write on the evil eye only gives a fragmented view of the subject whether it presents a folkloric, theological, classical, or anthropological approach to the evil eye. While these different approaches tend to reference similar sources each presents a different yet similar usage of the evil eye, that the fear of the evil eye is based on the belief that certain people have eyes whose glance has the power to injure or even kill and that it can be intentional or unintentional.
Protective talismans
The blue eye, known as μάτι (mati), “eye,” as an apotropaic visual device, is known to have been a fixture in Greece dating back to at least the 6th century BC, when it commonly appeared on drinking vessels. In Greece, the evil eye is cast away through the process of xematiasma (ξεμάτιασμα), whereby the “healer” silently recites a secret prayer passed over from an older relative of the opposite sex, usually a grandparent. Such prayers are revealed only under specific circumstances, for according to superstition those who reveal them indiscriminately lose their ability to cast off the evil eye. According to custom, if one is indeed afflicted with the evil eye, both victim and “healer” then start yawning profusely. The “healer” then performs the sign of the cross three times, and spits in the air three times.
The Heart of Eternity is a diamond measuring 27.64 carats (5.528 g), rated in color as “Fancy Vivid Blue” by the Gemological Institute of America. The Heart of Eternity was cut by the Steinmetz Group, who owned the diamond before selling it to the De Beers Group.
The Heart of Eternity is a member of an exceedingly rare class of coloured diamonds. It was found in the Premier Diamond Mine of South Africa. The Premier mine is the only mine in the world with an appreciable production of blue diamonds.
The Heart of Eternity was unveiled in January 2000 as part of the De Beers Millennium Jewels collection, which included the Millennium Star.
In 2012, there have been rumors that the boxer Floyd Mayweather bought the Heart of Eternity necklace for his fiancée, Shantel Jackson. De Beers refused to say whom they sold the Heart of Eternity Diamond to, and so its current owner was left unknown.
The Koh-i-Noor is one of the largest cut diamonds in the world, weighing 105.6 carats and part of the British Crown Jewels.
Probably mined in Golconda, India, there is no record of its original weight, but the earliest well-attested weight is 191 carats or 38.2 gr. Koh-i-Noor is Hindi and Persian for “Mountain of Light”. It has been known by this name since the 18th century. It changed hands between various factions in modern-day India, Pakistan, Iran, and Afghanistan, until being ceded to Queen Victoria after the British conquest of the Punjab in 1849.
Originally, the stone was of a similar cut to other Mughal era diamonds which are now in the Iranian Crown Jewels. In 1851, it went on display at the Great Exhibition in London, but the lacklustre cut failed to impress viewers. Prince Albert, husband of Queen Victoria, ordered it to be re-cut as an oval brilliant. By modern standards, the culet is unusually broad, giving the impression of a black hole when the stone is viewed head-on; it is nevertheless regarded by gemologists as “full of life”.
Today, the diamond is on public display in the Jewel House at the Tower of London, where it is seen by millions of visitors each year. The governments of India and Pakistan have both claimed rightful ownership of the Koh-i-Noor and demanded its return ever since the two countries gained independence from the UK in 1947. The British government insists the gem was obtained legally under the terms of the Last Treaty of Lahore and has rejected the claims.
The Elizabeth Taylor Diamond, formerly known as the Krupp Diamond, is a 33.19-carat (6.638 g) diamond that was bought by Richard Burton for his wife, Elizabeth Taylor in 1968.
The Elizabeth Taylor Diamond is an Asscher cut diamond with a fairly large culet facet. A report dated 9 May 2011 from the Gemological Institute of America states that the diamond is D colour, VS1 clarity; accompanied by a diagram indicating that the clarity may be potentially internally flawless.
The diamond was originally named after the Krupp family of German industrialists, and it was sold as part of the estate of Vera Krupp (1909–1967), second wife of Alfried Krupp. Burton bought the Krupp diamond on May 17, 1968, at an auction in New York for $307,000.
Taylor died in 2011 and the diamond was auctioned at Christie’s by her estate on 16 December 2011, having been renamed the Elizabeth Taylor Diamond. It was sold for $8,818,500.