Birthstones
Stones: Natural Synthetic
Aquamarine

Aquamarine

Heart Shaped Aquamarine Pendant
White or Yellow Gold

The March Birthstone

Aquamarine is, like emerald, a gemstone form of beryl. It is one of the official US birth stones for March.

Although aquamarine is transparent, it usually has a hue. This can be a variety of colours: blue or blue-green are most common, yellow, pink and white are also known.

Blue-green aquamarines are often heated to change them to blue and seal in the colour. It used to be that almost all aquamarine gems on the market were treated this way, but this is changing. Many people today like to buy the more natural blue-green shade of stone.

Symbolism and Lore

The name aquamarine means "sea water", however this was probably coined relatively recently (perhaps during the Renaissance). It's said that sailors would sometimes wear aquamarine to protect them at sea and this could be where it gained the name.

In older times aquamarine was often not distinguished from other forms of beryl, which is probably why there are less legends concerning this gem than some others. It's said that the Roman emperor Nero used a cut beryl as a monocle - it's likely that this was in fact formed from aquamarine.

Aquamarine has been said to give courage, good memory and general well-being. There is an ancient story that it would change colour to distinguish between truth and falsehood, friend or foe. It is sometimes therefore connected with heightened intuition, possibly even clairvoyance.

Aquamarine is also the official birthstone of Barbie.