August’s Birthstone History

For all the reasons you may know, your August birthday makes you very special, but for one reason for which you may vaguely be aware, your birthstone does, too.

Your birthstone is the illustrious, shimmering gem we’ve come to love: Peridot. With its signature coloring from the iron in the gorgeous green stone, it is one of the few gems that come to us in a single color: green.

It is a love affair whose origins date back to 25 AD, when the Roman natural philosopher and collector Pliny the Elder first recorded the magical green peridot stone on Zabargad Island (also known as St. John’s Island) off the coast of Egypt.

The Gem of the Sun

It was not long before the Egyptians became so enamored with the glowing emerald-like gem they regarded it as “the gem of the sun.” Even Cleopatra could not resist its radiant appeal.

And during the period before the First World War, when the island became the favored source of peridot, the Egyptians relied on it for its bounty, which yielded millions of dollars’ worth of the exquisite green gem.

In 1958, Egypt’s President nationalized the deposits on the island, formally recognizing peridot as its national stone, instantly acknowledged as “the gem of the sun.” In the years that followed, as mining on Zabargad diminished, the clamoring public sought other sources to meet the growing demand for precious stones.

Unlike the often varied hues and variations of other stones, peridot’s extraordinarily specific color spectrum is limited to the unique range of yellow-green to greenish-yellow.

Peridot from Earth and Sky

Small quantities of peridot have been identified in pallasite meteorites containing the green mineral olivine, transported to us from their amazing earthbound journeys across the sky.

The gem, derived from more earthly sources, is likewise found near volcanoes such as Peridot Beach, Hawaii, where it has been dated to several million years and regarded in Hawaiian folklore as the tears of the volcano goddess, Pele.

Valued not merely for its hypnotically green, translucent beauty, early civilizations also treasured peridot as a protector against fears and nightmares and as a catalyst for greater spiritual enlightenment.

The Evening Emerald

Its brilliant natural green hue has earned it the distinction of the “Evening Emerald” for the lustrous glow it casts at the mere flicker of nearby lamplight.

And, most important of all, you recognize it to be a spectacular August birthday treasure.

To mark your birthday, HerMJ offers hand-jeweled necklaces and bracelets, designed and crafted in sunny California. The pieces feature dazzling Austrian Swarovski crystals in shimmering shades of peridot and unique one-of-a-kind designs.

Happy Birthday!