Actually there are two gems: the one is aquamarine, the other bloodstone. I am not a big fan of bloodstone (sorry!!), so I will focus on aquamarine in this post. It is also the accepted anniversary gem for the 19th year of marriage.

The name aquamarine was derived by the Romans, “aqua” meaning water and “mare” meaning sea, because it looked like sea water. They were considered sacred to Neptune, god of the sea. This association with and safe voyages as well as protection against perils and monsters of the sea.

The aquamarine was believed to possess medicinal and healing powers - the association with water led to the belief that the Aquamarine was particularly powerful when immersed. Water in which this gemstone had been submerged was used in ancient times to heal a variety of illnesses of the heart, liver, stomach, mouth and throat. Aquamarines were also used to reverse poisoning and to aid in fortune telling.
Aquamarines were thought to be the source of power for soothsayers, who called it the “magic mirror”, and used it for telling fortunes and answering questions about the future. It is said that Emperor Nero used it as an eyeglass 2,000 years ago, and much later, aquamarines were used as glasses in Germany to correct shortsightedness. In fact, the German name for eyeglasses today is “brille”, derived from the mineral beryl.

Aquamarines vary in color from deep blue to blue-green of different intensities, caused by traces of iron. Naturally occurring deep blue stones are the most prized because they are rare and expensive. However, yellow beryl stones can be heated to change them to blue aquamarines. Aquamarine is mined primarily in Brazil, Nigeria and Zambia.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, March 9th, 2010 at 4:48 pm and is filed under birthstones.