EDITING CHRIS CHRISTEN
STYLING + PHOTOGRAPHY MICHELLE BAZIS
romancing the stone THREADS
THE MYSTIQUE AND ALLURE OF GEMSTONES IS AS POWERFUL AS EVER
A
s Valentine’s Day — the gem of all holidays —
danger, while others were kept close at hand to cure or avoid
approaches, here are five nuggets about colored
certain diseases, even protect and shield. Today, gemstones
stones, courtesy of Susan Jacques, president and
are most commonly associated with months of birth.
CEO of the Gemological Institute of America, and her team of historians and gemologists.
MINING REGIONS
MYSTICAL POWERS
The search for them opened up areas for exploration, too,
The allure of colored stones is as old as history itself.
Gems are found in some very remote regions of the world. notably the interior of Brazil in the 1700s. The same kind
Perhaps because of their rarity and beauty, many ancient
of gemstone can come from different sources. For example,
civilizations believed gemstones were imbued with special
Australia is a classic source for the finest opals. But various
powers. ... Some gems were thought to ward off evil and
kinds of opals can be found in Ethiopia, Brazil, Mexico
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