Wednesday, March 01, 2017
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Bonaci Fine Jewelers
The word aquamarine comes from the Latin word
aquamarina which meant the "water of the sea."
Given the incredibly beautiful and soothing blue-green color of the aquamarine, this name makes perfect sense.
For many centuries, aquamarine has been associated with tranquility and happiness.
However, it's also been believed to sharpen the intellect and cure laziness. Clearly, aquamarine's qualities are considered to be incredibly diverse. This pretty stone was also thought to instill courage and be lucky to sailors...
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AT: 03/01/2017 06:21:14 AM
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Wednesday, February 01, 2017
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Bonaci Fine Jewelers
Amethyst is a beautiful gemstone known for its signature purple color. It gets its name from the ancient Greek word for intoxicated, because they believed that amethyst could prevent drunkenness.
In modern times, amethyst is the birthstone for people born in February, and it is used for a variety of decorative purposes.
The Many Hues of Amethyst
Amethyst is a type of quartz that gets its violet hue from trace elements and iron impurities within the quartz....
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AT: 02/01/2017 08:25:13 AM
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Tuesday, November 01, 2016
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Bonaci Fine Jewelers
Strolling along tree-lined paths and watching the leaves in their different color and shapes this last month of fall, one is reminded of topaz.
Topaz, like the leaves of fall, comes in many variations. Pure topaz is transparent and has no color. Its impurities are what give topaz its distinctive colors.
Orange topaz, or precious topaz, is the traditional color for the November birthstone, and the official state gemstone of Utah.
Imperial topaz can range from a brig...
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AT: 11/01/2016 07:54:30 AM
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Thursday, September 01, 2016
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Bonaci Fine Jewelers
The birthstone for September, the sapphire is associated with purity of the soul. This stone is a relative of the ruby and also another form of the mineral known as corundum. Corundum is a drab grey mineral in its natural form. All forms of this mineral are known as sapphires except for the red ruby.
Because of the presence of iron and titanium within the structure of the crystal, sapphires are blue in color. The color ranges from very light, pale blue to a deep indigo. The medium-deep shade of blue, known as cornflower blue is the most valued shade.
The sapphire birthstone for September also appears in several other natural colors and shades. Th...
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AT: 09/01/2016 06:29:28 AM
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Monday, August 01, 2016
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Bonaci Fine Jewelers
Sardonyx, August's birthstone, has its beginnings in the Ancient world almost four thousand years ago. It is a combination of two stones, sard, which appears as orange and red, and onyx. The origin of the word sard is disputed. An Ancient historian, Pliny the Elder, believed the stone came from Sardis, a city in the Middle East. Today some believe it comes from the Greek word for “claw” while others believe it comes from the Persian word for “yellowish-red”.
Sard and onyx are layered, which makes sardonyx an excellent medium for carving intaglios and cameos. In Ancient Egypt and Ancient Rome, sardonyx necklaces and sardonyx rings with images of a particular god carved into them was popular; it was thought that the wearer could then possess whatever special power that god had.
While sardonyx has been tradit...
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Wednesday, June 01, 2016
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Bonaci Fine Jewelers
Alexandrite is a rare and precious gem which changes color when viewed in natural and artificial light. It appears green in the daylight and red in incandescent light. Variations of the gem can appear anywhere from yellow to pink during the day and a richer red during the night.
These color changes result from a change that occurs rarely within alexandrite's larger mineral group, chrysoberyl, in which aluminum is replaced by chromium ions in alexandrite's structure; this replacement absorbs light wavelengths within the yellow spectrum, making the gem appear to change color in different light sources.
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AT: 06/01/2016 07:23:30 AM
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Monday, February 01, 2016
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Bonaci Fine Jewelers
The Regal History of AmethystsThe loyal community of Bonaci Jewelry buyers is always interested in knowing more about their favorite gems. One of their favorites, the amethyst, has quite a long history and many interesting facts about how it became the jewel of royalty. The amethyst is also the birthstone for the month of February. This is where the details about this beautiful gem begin.
The amethyst is a gem that caught the eye of Neanderthal Man. Among prehistoric man's remains was found this spectacular jewel. It is hard to imagine how 25,000 years ago, this gem was already treasured as a stone to decorate the simple lives of...
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AT: 02/01/2016 08:39:00 AM
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Friday, January 01, 2016
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Bonaci Fine Jewelers
Garnets are a beautiful category of precious gemstones that have been used since the Bronze Age as a form of decoration, and in modern times, they are the birthstone for people born in January. Many garnets are so beautiful that the ancients confused them with rubies. Garnets are typically found in Africa, South America, and Southeast Asia. The deep lustrous color and the hardness of a garnet make it ideal for many types of jewelry.
What Is a Garnet?A garnet is not one specific type of gemstone. Instead, it is an entire group of over ten different silicate minerals, which all look the same, even though they have slightly different chemical compositions.
The classic, deep red shade of a garnet is the most common hue, but garnets can be found in orange, brown, yellow, and black. Garnets can even appear in...
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Tuesday, September 01, 2015
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Bonaci Fine Jewelers
Much attention may be focused on diamonds but September's birthstone, the sapphire, is one of highest valued by kings and the rich and famous, because they are extremely beautiful and rare.
These rare and beautiful gemstones could only have been produced under very special conditions, and has been linked in faith-based religions to the Biblical flood. Today, we find sapphires recognized as glamorous as often as diamonds.
Geologists continue to investigate the chemistry of these gemstones and...
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Saturday, August 01, 2015
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Bonaci Fine Jewelers
Peridot is August's birthstone and the perfect stone for summer. Peridot appears in a range of greens; each stone's unique shade is dependent on the amount of iron in the stone. Peridot which occurs as olive is considered the most valuable.
Peridot mines were first discovered on an island in the Red Sea and peridot jewelry was worn by women in Ancient Egypt and Rome; in Ancient Rome peridot necklaces and peridot earrings were so popular the peridot was nicknamed “the emerald of the evening”. In the Middle Ages, peridot rings were worn by the Catholic hierarchy because peridot became associated with moral purity. Later, once the peridot became a birthstone, it was associated with finding love.
Because peridot is now August's birthstone, peridot jewelry is the perfect gift for any loved one born in August. But th...
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Wednesday, July 01, 2015
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Bonaci Fine Jewelers
The ruby is considered one of the four most precious stones; this majestic gem's company includes diamonds, sapphires, and emeralds. Its fiery red primary hue is what makes rubies stand out from the others, and why the ruby jewelry has been so loved for such a long time.
Rubies have been treasured for both their beauty and believed powers. In the Far East, rubies were thought to be auspicious. Rubies were placed at the foundation of buildings to ensure success to whatever went on inside. Rulers also ordered military armor to include rubies to ensure their soldiers' success during war.
In...
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AT: 07/01/2015 07:18:26 AM
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Monday, June 01, 2015
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Bonaci Fine Jewelers
Pearl, the birthstone for June, is one of the most famous gems, arguably only second place to the diamond. Our collective consciousness is filled with paintings of European royalty donning pearl necklaces and pearl earrings and pictures of Hollywood's elite wearing pearl rings. Pearls are classified in two ways: natural or cultured.
Natural pearls are discovered using pearl hunting. Pearls form inside mollusks within the sea after an irritant finds its way into the mollusk. Pearl hunters would identify mollusk beds and removed in large clusters from the ocean bottom. This method proved to be inefficient because out of hundreds of mollusks only very few contained pearls. Because for hundreds of years this was the only way to procure pearls, pearl jewelry was quite expensive. This changed, and the price of pearls came down, once...
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Friday, May 01, 2015
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Bonaci Fine Jewelers
May's birthstone is the emerald. This gem appears in a magnificent range of greens, the darker containing blue and the lighter containing yellow. Because most emeralds are found with surface cracks, it is accepted practice to oil the gem to fill in the cracks and improve the gem's luster. While this is a relatively new practice, this kind of attention devoted to the emerald is not new.
In the Middle Ages, jewelry enthusiasts wrote lapidariums, or special books devoted to gems, including emeralds. A good emerald was believed to be “greener than any green that lay next to it.” Emeralds were also believed to hold special powers. Raymond Lull wrote of experiences in which he witnessed emeralds easing the suffering of the sick.
Of course, along with emeralds themselves, emerald jewelry has always been treasur...
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Wednesday, April 01, 2015
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Bonaci Fine Jewelers
Diamonds, whose name comes from the Greek for “invincible,” were first brought to the West's attention by Alexander the Great. But it would be thousands of years before diamond jewelry became commonplace in Western society.
By the 1400s, because of improved extraction and transportation, diamond necklaces and diamond rings became regular adornments of landowners and royalty. The first diamond ring intended to announce marriage engagement was commissioned by the Archduke Maximillian of Austria in 1447 to his love, Mary of Burgundy. Diamond jewelry at this time was also thought to help keep the wearer healthy. Queen Elizabeth I was given a diamond ...
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AT: 04/01/2015 08:44:13 AM
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Sunday, March 01, 2015
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Bonaci Fine Jewelers
Jasper, March's birthstone, occurs in mainly in three colors: red, yellow, and brown. Red is most common. Blue has been known to occur also, but it is extremely rare. Impurities like clay and iron, which are in the soil when jasper forms, create stunning markings in the jasper stone. These markings resemble marbling, orbits, and streaks.
For more than three thousand years, jasper has been used all over the world for various reasons. In classical Greece and Ancient Rome, this striking stone was used to create official government seals, as well as vases and other household decorative items. In the East, jasper was a part of feng shui. Yellow jasper rings were worn to soothe an anxious mind and green jasper pendants and jasper necklaces were worn to increase the wearer's good fortune.
Today, jasper is March's bir...
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