Aquamarine: 10 Fun Facts
- The American National Association of Jewelers, in 1912, adopted the gemstone Aquamarine as the modern March birthstone.
- The name aquamarine is derived from the Latin word "aqua", meaning water, and "marina", meaning the sea.
- Aquamarine is the greenish-blue to blue gem-quality variety of the Beryl family.
- Aquamarine and emerald are both beryllium aluminum silicates, but emerald is colored by trace amounts of chromium (and sometimes vanadium), while aquamarine obtains its color from iron impurities within colorless beryl (goshenite).
- Aquamarine stones have excellent clarity and transparency compared to many other similar gems.
- The largest find of gemstone quality aquamarine was in 1910 when the "Minas Gerais" mine in Marambaya, Brazil, unearthed a stone of 243 pounds!
- In ancient lore, Aquamarine was believed to be the treasure of mermaids, and was used by sailors as a talisman of good luck, fearlessness and protection.
- Many ancient medicines used powder from aquamarine to help cure all manner of infection, but it was said to be particularly good for eye ailments.
- Decorative jewelry and protective amulets using aquamarine have been found that date back as far as 500 B.C.
- aquamarine is also thought to help anxiety.The stone is believed to relax the senses and for this reason is often used in meditation.
