All about Aquamarine!

•What is aquamarine?
Aquamarine is a beautiful, transparent blue-green form of the mineral beryl. It is the March birthstone and is also used as the commemorative gemstone for the 19th wedding anniversary.

•Where is aquamarine found?
A great deal of the world’s finest aquamarine is found in Brazil. Aquamarine is also mined in Africa, Madagascar, the Urals in Russia, India, the Ukraine, Zambia, Pakistan, Afghanistan, and Nigeria. The aquamarine mined in Madagascar is dark blue. Lately, a very pretty aquamarine minded in China has become available to the world market and is being set in the complete range of jewelry styles.

•Color
The word aquamarine is derived from the Latin words aqua marina, which mean “sea water.” Aquamarine is available in a lovely range of blue, from a blue so pale as to sometimes appear almost colorless, to a deeper sky blue. In its natural state, aquamarine has a greenish tint that vanishes when the stones are routinely heated for color enhancement.

•Shape
Aquamarine can be cut into all the faceted gemstone shapes: round brilliant, oval, pear, marquise, heart, cushion, square, trillion, fantasy, and emerald. It is also cut into cabochons. You will rarely, if ever, find aquamarine shaped into beads.

•Durability
Aquamarine is a 7 1/2 on the Moh’s Scale and is considered to be a fairly durable stone. It holds up well to setting and polishing, but not to boiling or being exposed to the heat of the jeweler’s torch. (Excessive heating of aquamarine can lighten its color.)

•Quality
The deeper colored aquamarines, with few if any flaws, are considered the highest quality and are also the most visually appealing. Because of its transparent nature, flaws will detract from the beauty of an aquamarine and thus, internally “clean” stones should be chosen. The good news, though, is that high clarity (and, thus, high quality) aquamarines are readily available, although the very large, high quality stones are becoming somewhat scarcer in the past few years.

•Legend and lore
According to legend, aquamarine is a “power” stone: wearing it can make you more confident and sure of yourself and your decisions. It also reportedly surrounds the wearer with an aura that others subconsciously read as an air of authority. Also, because of its intrinsic connection with the sea, some believe that wearing aquamarine can exert a calming effect, similar to the calm one feels when being around bodies of water (which is, I guess, one of the reasons why shoreline property is so expensive!). Also, if you dream of aquamarine, it means you are about to make new friends, and aquamarine earrings are supposed to bring love to the wearer.

•Care
Aquamarine can be cleaned with standard jewelry cleaner, even in an ultrasonic cleaner, as long as the solution is not allowed to get too hot. At home, you can soak your aquamarine jewelry in jewelry cleaner, rinse it under warm to hot water, and dry with a soft cloth. Do not expose aquamarine to excessive heat or sunlight (don’t wear it to the beach, in other words) and never boil it. And as with other faceted stones, be careful not to hit aquamarine against hard surfaces, as it may chip, crack, or even shatter if struck hard enough.