Birthstones

Sapphire became September's birthstone in 1912. For several centuries before that it was doing a very specific job, on the hands of bishops.

October has two birthstones, and the warning attached to one of them can be dated to a book published in May 1829.

Topaz has been November's stone since 1912. Citrine is on every current list, and no list-keeper says when it arrived.

Emerald is May's birthstone, and what the classical writers praise it for is not love or renewal. It is what it does for tired eyes.

Aquamarine leads March today and bloodstone follows. The document usually blamed for putting them in that order does not mention March at all.

June has three birthstones and each one reached the list by a different route. One of them changed meaning without the list being edited.

July's birthstone is ruby, and ruby was being manufactured and sold before the month was ever assigned to it.

Garnet is January's stone, and where the tradition came from is unrecorded. Where the stones came from can now be measured.

Amethyst holds February, and its Greek name makes a claim. The two accounts that explain the claim each arrive with a disclaimer attached.

December's turquoise is soft enough to take a mark from whoever wears it. The old warning stories and the modern care advice both start there.

Peridot's oldest recorded mine sat in Roman literature for two thousand years. A field expedition finally found it on the ground in 2010.

April's birthstone is diamond, and it was the minority choice. The gem authority of the day wanted it struck off the list.

American retail jewellers voted the modern birthstone list through at a convention in Kansas City in August 1912. We read the trade press.