June Birthstone : Pearls, Moonstone & Alexandrite.

Pearl is a birthstone for June, and for the astrological sign of Scorpio and Cancer. It is the traditional gift for a 30th anniversary (reflecting its historical high value), although in the modern lists Pearls are to be given for the twelfth anniversary. Pearls are associated with the values of modesty, purity, beauty, and happiness. Pearl originates from oceans, lakes and rivers around the world. We have natural and cultured pearls which occur in a wide variety of colors. The most familiar are white and cream, but the palette of colors extends to every hue. Natural pearls form around a microscopic irritant in the bodies of certain mollusks. Cultured pearls are the result of the deliberate insertion of a bead or piece of tissue that the mollusk coats with nacre.

Moonstone is an opalescent stone that can be found in colorless form as well as peach, pink, green, gray, yellow, brown, and blue. The play of light seen in Moonstone is called adularescence, and its clarity ranges from transparent to opaque. It was named by the Roman natural historian Pliny, who wrote that moonstone’s shimmery appearance shifted with the phases of the moon. Moonstone gems come in a range of colors spanning yellow, gray, green, blue, peach, and pink, sometimes displaying a star or cat’s eye. The finest classical moonstones, colorlessly transparent with a blue shimmer, come from Sri Lanka. Moonstones are also found in India, Australia, Myanmar, Madagascar, and the United States.

Alexandrite is often described by gem aficionados as “emerald by day, ruby by night,” alexandrite is the very rare color-change variety of the mineral chrysoberyl. Originally discovered in Russia’s Ural Mountains in the 1830s, it’s now found in Sri Lanka, East Africa, and Brazil, but fine material is exceptionally rare and valuable. This chameleon-like color shift is the result of its uncommon chemical composition which includes traces of chromium, the same coloring agent found in emerald. The unlikelihood of these elements combining under the right conditions makes alexandrite one of the rarest and most expensive gemstones on earth. The alexandrite mined from Russia’s famed deposits set the quality standard for this gemstone. Today, most alexandrite comes from Sri Lanka, Brazil, and East Africa, generally paling in comparison to the vivid colors of Russian gemstones.