Birthstones: Rockin Through The Ages

For more than 45 centuries (3000 BC up to the 1500s), the acquisition of gems for their aesthetic qualities was a minor consideration. Though gem beauty is the dominant reason for the purchases in today's world, in the ancient world, gems were not luxuries at all. They were considered necessary to daily life.
The idea that gems contain special properties and powers is a concept that has survived for countless thousands of years, and lives on our modern birthstone charts. It is in fact the oldest of jewelry traditions to link a birth date to a particular stone and to accept the gem's ability to influence the wearer's life.

The awe that the ancients felt for the gems they wore is a race memory passed down to we moderns, and is a great deal of what our desire for precious jewelry is all about. The Birthstone tradition links our time to a time when man was more at peace with nature and more in tune with the world around him. To better understand the properties associated with birthstone (as well as other power gems) we must look back in gemological history and become aware of the mystique that began these traditions. Hopefully a better understanding of this history can heighten one's desire for acquiring certain types of jewelry.