August birthstone

Peridot has long been associated with light and sun, and in fact the Egyptians called it the ‘gem of the sun’. Very apt indeed, (if you live in the northern hemisphere!) considering that it is the birthstone for August. There is something very sunshine-y bright about the peridot I’ve just listed, with its vibrant golden-green gleam. Apparently it is also thought to banish night terrors, especially if set in gold. Well, peridot does look exceptionally beautiful in gold, but for those of us that can’t run to that, silver offers a coolly lovely foil to its warmth. Just listed I have peridot in a 4mm and a 6mm rose cut cushion cabochon, available here: 4mm and 6mm

Welcoming back ‘old friends’

Finally back in stock I have some labradorite in sizes and cuts that customers have been clamouring for. These are labradorite 5mm round cabochons at $1.75 per stone, 5mm honeycomb faceted cabochons at $2 per stone and 6mm honeycomb faceted cabochons at $3.50 per stone. I am not quite sure what the problem has been with re-stocking these; I think it is just quite hard for my suppliers to get hold of nice quality rough. Such a lot of labradorite on the market is not nice; full of cracks with almost none of the highly desirable labradorescence. Since it is my opinion that a labradorite without good flash is like a blunt pencil (pointless) I’ve waited it out until now and finally I have some nice quality stones in large quantities, so I shouldn’t run out for a while! Feel free to buy like crazy!