There seems to be some agreement that the origin of birthstone goes back to the time of Moses and he directed the Breast Plate of the High Priest be made with the twelve colors representing the twelve tribes of Israel. The number twelve have great importance. There were twelve tribes of ancient Israel, twelve apostles, twelve foundation stones of the Holy City, twelve signs on the zodiac and twelve months of the year. A corresponding gemstone was assigned to each color. In the beginning people want to own all twelve stones of the sacred Breast Plate and began to wear one piece of gemstone jewelry each month changing it as each month changes. As time passed people began wearing only his or her stone of birth all year. Thus, the twelve birthstones were born. There are three different approach of classifying birthstones. (1) Modern birthstones as defined by a list published by the Jewelers of America in 1912, (2) Traditional birthstone established during the 1600’s in Tibet, (3) Mystical list of birthstones details the healing qualities of lore associated with the birthstones. Most jewelers utilize the modern list of birthstones which also incorporates alternative gemstones for each of the months.

A great article on this months (October's) birthstone is located the Jewerly Trend Blog.

Labels: Birthstone, Birthstone Earrings, Birthstone History, Birthstone Jewelry, Birthstone Pendants, Birthstone Rings

This entry was posted by nitacreations, on Sunday, October 21, 2007. You can leave your response.