Birthstones For December
The month of snow and ice and mirth,
Place on your hand a turquoise blue,
Success will bless whate'er you do."
* * * *
"The heaven blue turquoise should adorn
All those in December born.
For these they'll be exempt and free
From love's doubt and anxiety."
* * * *
Those born in December have a choice of three gem stones -- the turquoise,
zircon, or lapis lazuli, but the most popular one is turquoise. It is a
stone highly treasured since ancient times, and still has a prominent place
in oriental and occidental jewelry and ornamentals. Few stones have such
rich traditions and interesting history.
Turquoise and opal were considered the only amorphous (without shape) gem
stones until recently, when triclinic crystals of turquoise were found in
Virginia. Turquoise is a secondary mineral -- a product of weathering which
fills crevices, veins, and cracks of rocks near the surface of the earth.
Usually in an arid, copper-rich country, the action of rainwater slowly
breaks up and dissolves them and redeposits them as sedimentary rocks. The
light greenish blue to a sky blue, a preferred color for gems, is due to
a copper content of less than ten percent, enough to give it a lovely blue
color. Some of the copper may be replaced by iron, resulting in a greenish
or the less desireable yellow color. The composition is a complex of
hydrated copper, aluminum phosphate, with porcelaneous luster; hardness 5
to 6; fracture smooth; brittle; translucent on thin edges. It is associated
with igneous formations.
The name "turquoise" is derived from the French, meaning "Turkey Stone",
for it originally was thought to be a product of Turkey, from which during
middle ages this gem was introduced to Europe. It has been mined for many
centuries in Iran, Egypt, and the Middle East. In Iran (Persia) it is the
national stone, and highly prized. In ancient Egypt, it was often prized
as much as gold and rubies, if not more. Jewelry of remarkable workmanship,
considered to be the oldest in the world, have been found in tombs that have
been buried some six thousand years. The Egyptian Goddess Hathor was known
as the "Mistress of Turquoise". Among the Tibetans, it is an offense to
refer to turquoise as a stone. It was believed to be a divine manifestation,
and large pieces were christened with names such as "The Resplendent
Turquoise of the Gods".
The American Indians believed that the celestial blue of this stone was
stolen from the heavens by storms, and that if one went to the end of the
rainbow and searched the damp earth, he would find a turquoise. Among all
people, turquoise has been valued as a good luck charm. Our Indians of the
Southwest have prized the turquoise highly for many centuries, and have
become experts in polishing and mounting the stones in hand-wrought silver
work.
The principal sources in the United States are in New Mexico, Colorado,
Arizona and Nevada.
It is strange that of the two non-crystalline gems, one, the turquoise,
should be considered a good luck charm and the other, the opal, should
be unlucky.