If May is your birthday month celebrate it in stylish emeralds.
Although you wouldn’t know it from the weather, May is upon us already, and with a new month comes a new birthstone; emerald. The brightness and brilliance of the green fire inside an emerald stone really is eye-catching to many.
Yet emeralds can often lose out in the attention-grabbing stakes to their ever-popular rival diamond. Yet emeralds are a highly prized gemstone and are considered among the top four gems alongside diamond, sapphire and ruby. Emeralds are also the stone of choice for the 20th and 35th wedding anniversaries. So we thought it would be the perfect time to highlight their unique qualities.
Emeralds have been mined and coveted since ancient times and the most famous ancient mines were located near Egypt’s Red Sea and were named after the queen who adored them; Cleopatra. Emeralds were Cleopatra’s favourite stone and her vast jewellery collection contained many stunning examples. She used the emeralds from her Egyptian mines to emphasis her royal status after usurping her brother’s throne and we can thank her for infusing emeralds with connotations of power and royalty!
Interestingly, the famous actress that played her in the famous film about her life, Elizabeth Taylor loved emeralds too!
The stunning piece above was one of many that sold at the record breaking auction of The Elizabeth Taylor Jewellery Collection in December 2011. A gift from Richard Burton upon their marriage in 1964, it is set with a graduated series of sixteen rectangular and square cut emeralds, by Bvlgari. It sold for an eye-watering £3,923,520! You can read more about the auction here.
This celebrity endorsement doesn’t end there though. Halle Berry recently announced her engagement, by proudly showing off her emerald engagement ring. Emeralds jewels have also become a trademark stone for the actress Angelina Jolie.
Thankfully, you don’t need a Hollywood royalty type budget to keep up with this trend, as it is an extremely affordable and versatile gemstone that lends itself well to all types of jewellery.
If you have green eyes then emeralds are perfect for you. Earrings come in many varieties and you can choose from emerald studs if you are a woman who prefers elegance, emerald hoops or emerald chandelier earrings if you prefer to be stylish.
Emeralds can also be combined with different metals, especially with gold. Gold is the metal of excellence for emeralds and its colour combines perfectly with the colour of the gemstone.
So, if you do have a birthday this month, share this with your friends, family or significant other. You never know, hopefully it will provide them with some inspiration for a really great birthday gift.
