Semi-Precious Royal Jewels

[Lord Williams]

"I love those amethyst (my birthstone) jewels."

I had no idea amethyst was a birthstone. I thought it was just a substitute for Alexandrite because Alexandrite is so rare.

[Mia]

Originally Posted by Lord Williams

I had no idea amethyst was a birthstone. I thought it was just a substitute for Alexandrite because Alexandrite is so rare.

And I didn't know that alexandrite was a birthstone. Well, at lest in Scandinavia. I see that it is the birthstone of June among pearl and moonstone somewhere in the world.

Actually alexandrite was found as late as 1830 while amethyst has been around for at least some thousand years. So that I think that amethyst is no ones substitute. Somebody has to defend that old fossile.

Alexandrite is not just rare but extremely rare, this can't be pronounced enough. I have seen just a handful of real alexandrites in my life and most of these were heavily included and either too dark moss green in daylight or pale lilac in artificial light. Most of the so-called alexandrite on the market is synthetic or other colour changing gemstones, for example cc sapphire.

The raw material of real alexandrite is quite small but oh, so expensive, so that it is not easily suitable for grand jewelry designs (while amethysts are found in fairly large crystals and work well with all kind of designs, old and modern).

Richard Hughes, some kind of a guru on gemology, writes of alexandrite on www.palagems.com site:

Unfortunately for the lapidaries, larger crystals, usually highly fractured, yielded little facet-grade material and some crystals would not facet at all. Large (over 3 carats), clean alexandrite gems are among the rarest and most costly of all gemstones.

[Lord Williams]

My grandmother had a large real alexandrite ring, a solitaire, the stone was about 2.5 carats at least, it was huge. It was also her birthstone, June. It was stolen and since Alexandrite has went up tremendously since the ring was made, she has replaced it with an amethyst.

[reynard]

Now I've seen it all. Here's smoky quartz:

[Mia]

Oh, the look is very different, but somehow very uniform. Good design.

It would be excellent mourning jewelry, I guess...

[reynard]

Here's coral:

[reynard]

kind of weird, but the Victorians would have loved it.

[reynard]

Here is another amethyst tiara. It is interesting because it belonged to an American First Lady, Mrs. James Monroe

[PR Princess]

Originally Posted by reynard

kind of weird, but the Victorians would have loved it.

I hope that none of the royal women have this tiara, it is uuuggglly!

[micas]

God pics!!!!!!!!!!!!!!11

[ElisaR]

The amethysts of the Kent demi-parure. :)

[tiaraprin]

Originally Posted by ElisaR

The amethysts of the Kent demi-parure.

The Kent Demi-Parure was the property of Queen Victoria's mother, Victoire, Duchess of Kent.

[zarzuela]

A diamond and turquoise necklace and earrings belonging to Queen Sofia

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[Prince of Chota]

I absolutely love turquoise parures. My favourite would have to be that of Princess Margaret. Does anyone know what became of it after she passed away?

[michelleq]

The southwestern and/or American Indian type of Turquoise has dark specks in it. In my opinion it I prefer the Persian Turquoise which is a beautiful blue.

[Prince of Chota]

Originally Posted by michelleq

The southwestern and/or American Indian type of Turquoise has dark specks in it. In my opinion it I prefer the Persian Turquoise which is a beautiful blue.

The amount of veining and flecks in the turquoise has more to do with its quality than the location it was found. There is quite a bit of Native American jewellery that employs native turquoise as unmarred as that of persia. HOWEVER, the varied coloration is often prized by collectors of southwestern jewellery for its more rustic look. Much depends on the jeweller and the style of the piece desired.

[Thomas Parkman]

Well, pant, slurp and drool. Here I go again. Just lovely. I have never been wild about turquoises but this has caused me to change my mind. Normally the only things that loosen up my mental rigidity are wine and chocolate. But I have always wished they had used sapphires in place of spinels in the Bagration parurue. It is such an incredible design.

Arent there some Iranian tiaras made of turquoise??? As for Amethysts are just wonderful, no matter how inexpensive they may be. I suspect if you discovered a huge deposit of rubies, all of enormous size the price of that would come crashing to the ground in short order too. Then maybe I could afford a nice ruby paurure or better-or should I say safer-still a ruby aigrette. Perhaps we should do a thread on royal hat pins and aigrettes. Cheers.

[Jane1]

Is there any famous royal jewellery with tanzanite in it? Or is it too modern?

[Thomas Parkman]

If my memory serves me tanzanite is a quite recent modern innovation or discovery from the 1970s (?) and hence would not have had enough time to be a part of famous jewelry. Also I do not know if it is considered a precious or semi-precious stone. Personally I find it a bit too garish, but that is a matter of personal preference. There is, I understand, only one source for the stone, located naturally in Tanzania. Cheers.

[SASSY]

Originally Posted by Thomas Parkman

If my memory serves me tanzanite is a quite recent modern innovation or discovery from the 1970s (?) and hence would not have had enough time to be a part of famous jewelry. Also I do not know if it is considered a precious or semi-precious stone. Personally I find it a bit too garish, but that is a matter of personal preference. There is, I understand, only one source for the stone, located naturally in Tanzania. Cheers.

I think Tanznaite was discovered in Tanzania in 1967. I can't remember if it was Tiffany or Harry Winston that bought the mine so to speak and originally you could only buy it from them.
I would love to see some pictures of Tanzanite or Alexandrite.