Aquamarine Gemstone For March
This Variety of Beryl is Shaded from Blue to Blue-Green
Aquamarine is the gemstone of March and for those born under the zodiacal sign of Cancer
Beautiful aquamarine is a member of the beryl family. Its most famous relative in this family is the green precious gemstone, emerald. Beryl in its natural form is colorless. However, add the mineral iron to beryl and this impurity will impart a beautiful blue-green hue to the gemstone, creating the birthstone for the month of March, aquamarine.
Price
While a semi-precious colored gemstone (ruby, sapphire and emerald are precious) aquamarine is not inexpensive. Based on the color, clarity, size and toughness of the gemstone one can expect to pay between $200 and $1,000 per carat.
To give an example of carat size and associating price and toughness, the aquamarine solitaire set in the ring shown on this page is over seven carats and is about as big as a oblong quarter. It has a very slight visible-to-the-eye flaw and accordingly was priced in the low hundreds.
Treatments
Natural aquamarine is extremely rare. The most highly desired of all aquamarine is an intense true blue with no green. Aquamarine is routinely heat treated to remove any green shading. Further, the lighter the blue hue, the less expensive the specimen.
Check out the image shown accompanying this article and note that the rough crystal on the top is a lighter blue hue while the rough crystal on the bottom is darker with shades of green.
Presentation:
Aquamarine is a lovely translucent gemstone. Basically, this means that the gemstone allows light to shine through the gemstone, making it quite luminous.
On the Mohs Scale of Hardness from 1 to 10 (with 10 being diamond hard), this gemstone comes in at 7.5. Theoretically this makes aquamarine a good candidate for setting in a ring. Just check to make sure the gemstone does not have any serious flaws visible to the eye.
Aquamarine in Myth and Legend:
The gemstone aquamarine carries a receptive charge. It is a soothing gemstone that is used in love magic. Receptive gemstones are also said to increase wisdom, compassion and psychic vision.
Aquamarine means 'sea water' in Latin. Therefore, besides being a talisman for those born in March, it is a favorite gemstone of those traveling across bodies of water and surfers.
Follow the Chakras? Aquamarine is used for the throat chakra and its subtle body association is etheric and the mind.
Aquamarine's planetary ruler is the moon, making this a wonderful gemstone for women. The gemstones that combine well with aquamarine in jewelry are those that are white. For example: clear crystal quartz, moonstone and the organic material pearl.
