A short history of birthstones

A short history of birthstones

birthstones

Western custom

The first century Jewish historian Josephus believed there was a connection between the twelve stones in Aaron's breatplate (as described in the Book of Exodus), the twelve months of the year, and the twelve signs of the zodiac. Translations and interpretations of the passage in Exodus regarding the breastplate have varied widely, with Josephus himself giving two different lists for the twelve stones. George Kunz argues that Josephus saw the breastplate of the Second Temple, not the one described in Exodus. St Jerome,  referencing Josephus, said the Foundation Stones of the New Jerusalem (Revelation 21:19–20) would be appropriate for Christians to us.

In the eighth and ninth century, religious treatises associating a particular stone with an apostle were written, so that "their name would be inscribed on the Foundation Stones, and his virtue, Practice became to keep twelve stones and wear one a month. The custom of wearing a single birthstone is only a few centuries old, though modern authorities differ on dates. Kunz places the custom in eighteenth century Poland, while the Gemological Institutes of America starts it in Germany in the 1560s.

Modern lists of birthstones have little to do with either the breastplate or the Foundation Stones of Christianity. Tastes, customs and confusing translations have distanced them from their historical origins, with one author calling the 1912 Kansas list (see below) "nothing but a piece of unfounded salesmanship.

Traditional birthstones

Ancient traditional birthstones are society-based birthstones. The table below shows popular birthstones.

The Gregorian calendar has poems matching each month with its birthstone. These are traditional stones of English-speaking societies. Tiffany & Co. published these poems "of unknown author" for the first time in a pamphlet in 1870.

Modern birthstones

In 1912, in an effort to standardize birthstones, the (American) National Association of Jewelers (now called Jewelers of America) met in Kansas and officially adopted a list.The Jewelry Industry Council of America updated the list in 1952 by adding Alexandrite for June, citrine for November and pink tourmaline for October. They also replaced December's lapis with zircon and switched the primary/alternative gems for March. The American Gem Trade Association added tanzanite as a December birthstone in 2002. In 2016, the American Gem Trade Association and Jewelers of America added spinel as an additional birthstone for August. Britain's National Association of Goldsmiths created their own

birthstone history chart

Be sure to check out our birthstone mother's rings - Click here

 Courtesy of Wikipedia.

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