Alexandrite

 

A greenish form of chrysoberyl., this gemstone changes colors in different light, usually from green by daylight to red by candle light. Other varieties of alexandrite may be yellowish or pink in daylight and a columbine or raspberry red by candle light. Alexandrite is a transparent fancy

stone usually cut into facets and mounted as a pendant or in earrings. Alexandrites are favored for focal use in any items of magic that confer good luck, favor, or protection, though many are used for lodestones as well.

 

 Amber

 

A golden or orange-hued, fossilized resin, this fancy stone is soft and brittle and is usually tumbled smooth and cut cabochon. Some amber contains other preserved fossils, such as primitive plants and insects. These variants with identifiable inclusions are valued much more highly on the Material Plane than clear amber, and command four or five times the prices of “empty” amber. Amber pellets strung on thongs are used as a medium of trade by northern barbarians, but these same pellets are graded and valued among civilized peoples as gemstones, not just currency.

Amber is often used as a good luck charm to ward off diseases and plague and as a component of spells and magical items with healing or diseased-related effects. In magical uses, amber serves as a spell component and spell ink ingredient in most enchantments that involve lightning and electrical discharges, from shocking grasp through chain lightning.

 

Amethysts

 

Amethysts are the most valuable of the quartz gemstones and are normally facet cut into brilliant shape. Related to agates and other less valuable quartzes, amethysts vary in purple hue from a lilac color to a royal purple, but the rich deep purple stones are most remembered and valued. Such stones are called by some the crown of kings because many kings in olden times restricted the use of this gemstone to those of royal blood.

Amethysts are supposed to ward off drunkenness and convert poisons to harmless substances. These abilities are folk belief, not truth. Because of their attributed capabilities, these fancy stones are usually used as ornaments for mugs and chalices, particularly those used by nobles.

Amethyst is one of the nine secrets types of gemstones that can be transformed into ioun stones by the proper spells and also serves as ink ingredient or spell component in magic involving the communication of messages. Amethyst represents safety when seen by seers, and romance when seen in the dreams of women.

 

Aquamarine

 

Aquamarine, which means water of the sea, is a type of precious stone. This transparent blue-green variety of beryl which is often used by barbarian tribes for adornment because of its durability. Most of the stones have a delicate blue or turquoise color that suggests the tint of seawater. Not surprisingly, these stones are often sought by sea elves who will always give the best prices for these stones. 

 

Black Sapphire

Black sapphires are a rare variety of sapphire that is a deep, rich black with yellow or white highlights. These jewels come mostly a rich and well guarded vein in the Blitzkreig Mines. Dwarves prize them highly, as do a growing number of wizards who have learned that once a black sapphire has been cut and polished, many have magical properties that disrupt temporal magical effects. Sages speculate that the interaction between the gemstone and the farseeing the deepest mines generate this unique effect.

 

Emerald

A brilliant green beryl, the emerald cleaves along straight, boxlike lines. This jewel is so often displayed with a particular rectangular faceted cut that the cut’s name has become an “emerald” cut, and it is known —more properly— as a modified step cut only among gem smiths. Emeralds also lend themselves to thebaguette or table faceted cuts. 

It is used for adornment, in spell ink formulae, as a spell component, in item enchantment baths, and as a discharge point in items concerned with fertility, health, and growth. Emerald breaks to reveal falsehood and concealed hatred, and many kings have worn rings carved entirely of emerald to parleys to detect treachery and deceit without the use of spells.

 

Garnet

Garnets are a general class of crystals ranging from deep red to violet in color. These precious stones are normally isometric in shape, with 12 or 24 faces to a typical crystal, though 36- or 48-faced crystals have been found. Garnets are usually found in granites. Thought by some fading faiths to be the hardened blood of divine avatars, garnets are generally considered useless in magical work

 

Ivory

The substance that provides the teeth of all mammals is referred to as ivory or dentine when used for decorative purposes. Whenever the teeth or tusks are large enough, they can be used for carving—. Ivory comes from elephant tusks, hippopotamus teeth, cachalots whale teeth, and the tusks of the walrus, narwhal, and boar. Tiny quantities of fossil ivory from prehistoric elephants, mastodons, and saber-toothed tigers are also encountered occasionally. In addition, ivory also comes from less commonplace creatures such as behemoths, mammoths, and umber hulks. The price of this hardstone depends on its hardness and durability, its hue and degree of mottling, and the shine it can be buffed to or type of surface treatment it can take. Prices depend on current preferences of style and ornament, and what is valued highly in a particular place can be nearly worthless elsewhere. Dragon teeth and the fangs of certain creatures of a magical nature such as displacer beasts have mystical uses and properties, but the ivory of common beasts generally does not.

 

Jade

Jade is a class of fancy stone including both jadeite and nephrite. It is often found in a massive, carvable form of a lesser grade and is then classified as ahardstone. It appears as an opaque, waxy mineral of light to dark green or white. As jade ages, it darkens further to become a rich brown. Jade is said to enhance musical ability and so is worn as a lucky stone by bards and other musicians on the Material Plane.

In magical work, powdered jade is the preferred base for spell inks and used as a substitute for all non-organic spell components for all illusion/phantasm spells. It is an essential ingredient in enchantment baths for magical items that cast illusions as any of their functions—

Malachite

Malachite is a  popular stone which has light and dark green banded areas.  Many beautiful specimens of malachite contain special combinations with other minerals, such as azurite, cuprite, or chrysocolla. 

Malachite can be found in Zaire, USSR, Germany,   France, Chile, Australia, Arizona and New Mexico/USA. It ranges between 3.5 to 4 on the Mohs scale of hardness

 

 

Moonstone

 

 

Moonstone is an opaque, white, semiprecious feldspar gemstone usually polished to a bluish sheen; it is also known as orthoclase. Moonstone glows faintly with captured light for an hour or so in darkness after surrounding or nearby light sources are gone. Legends say (falsely) that merely seeing this stone forces a lycanthrope into his or her animal form, but magical items that control lycanthropy, affect lycanthropes, or protect against lycanthropy often use moonstones as ornamentation. To dream of moonstones, seers say, is a warning of danger.

The only true magical uses of this gemstone are, in powdered form, as a material component in many spells involving barriers or abjurations, and in many  evocation spells as a source of magical storage and sudden, thrusting redirection of that energy. With careful experimentation as to amounts, a wizard can substitute moonstones for many of the non-organic material components called for in such spells

onyx

Onyx is a chalcedony quartz that is mined in Brazil, India, California and Uruguay. It has a fine texture and black color; however some onyx also displays white bands or ribbons against a black or brown background and this variety is known as sardonyx. 

The name comes from the Greek word onyx which means nail of a finger or claw. Legend says that one day while Venus was sleeping Eros/Cupid cut her fingernails and left the clippings scattered on the ground.  Because no part of a heavenly body can die, the gods turned them into stone which later became known as onyx.

Originally, almost all colors of chalcedony from white to dark brown and black were called onyx.  Today when we think of onyx we often preface the word with black to distinguish it from other varieties of onyx that come in white, reddish brown, brown and banded. A variety of onyx that is reddish brown with white and lighter reddish bands is known as sardonyx.  A 6.5 on the Mohs scale of hardness., onyx is a very good stone for use in carving.

Most Black Onyx that is commercially available today is color enhanced (heated and dyed) to increase it's depth of color.

Opal

The gemstone Opal is the official October birthstone as adopted by the American National Association of Jewelers in 1912. It is also the birth stone for the Zodiac sign of Libra. See the birthstone tables for additional references to this stone.

Boulder opal is found in Australia where precious opal forms in veins and patches within brown ironstone boulders. When the opal is mixed through the ironstone it is called matrix opal. Hardness ranges between 5.5 and 6 on the Mohs scale.

Boulder opal is very durable due to the ironstone backing the opal forms on.   Because water content within the opal is very low it almost never cracks or crazes as it ages.

 

Peridot

This translucent version of olivine is usually olive green in appearance. It is one of the few gemstones that come in only one color, in various shades of green. It is normally found in basalts and with other quartz deposits. It is a precious stone often used in abjuration spells and items which provide protection against spells and enchantments, and it forms a versatile, “good-as-the-original” spell component in many such spells and items

Tanzanite

In October 2002, Tanzanite was added to the official birthstone list by the American Gem Trade Association as an additional birthstone for December. See the birthstone tables for other December birthstones.

Tanzanite was first discovered in 1967 in Tanzania, East Africa. As one of the newest and most exotically colored gemstones, Tanzanite is part of the Zoisite mineral species and is only found in East Africa. Tanzanite is very rarely a pure blue and usually exhibits rich purple overtones.

While Tanzanite is often a blue color when first mined, it can also be brown and is routinely heat treated to permanently draw out its exotic bluish-purple color.

Tanzanite is a brittle stone and although it can be worn daily, care should be taken to protect it from knocks, pressure and extreme temperature changes. Do not use a home ultrasonic to clean jewelry with tanzanite

Tiger's Eye

Tiger's Eye is the planetary stone for Gemini (May 21-Jun. 20) and the accepted gem for the ninth wedding anniversary.

Tiger's eye (tiger’s eye, tiger eye, tiger iron) is a member of the quartz group of chalcedonies. It is one of the chatoyant gemstones. Chatoyancy exhibits a changeable silky luster as light is reflected within the thin parallel fibrous bands. This effect is due to the fibrous structure of the material.

Tiger iron is composed of tiger's eye, red jasper and black hematite. The rippled wavy bands of color often resemble a scenic view. Marra Mamba is a form of tiger iron found in one area of Australia near Mount Brockman. It is a very rare type of tiger iron that contains shades of red, green, yellow, and blue. This area has been mined out for many years so very little of the "true" marra mamba is available today.

The exceptional looking piece of marra mamba tiger's iron rough from Australia (seen in third image) looks like the evening sun setting behind a mountain range.  It has a greenish cast with shades of brown, golden yellow, red and blue veining.  Because the minerals in this stone are of varying hardness, it is difficult to polish without under cutting.

Tiger's eye is mined in Western Australia, South Africa, USA, Canada, India, Namibia, and Burma

Tourmaline

The gemstone Tourmaline is the official birthstone for October as adopted by the American National Association of Jewelers in 1912. It also the traditional birthstone for October, the stone for the Zodiac sign of Leo, and the accepted gem for the 8th wedding anniversary.

The name Tourmaline comes from the Sinhalese (Sri Lanka) word tura mali which translates as the stone of mixed colors. These stones are 7 to 7.5 on the Mohs’ scale of hardness.

Tourmaline is available in a wide variety of colors from black to bluish-black, dark brown, yellow, medium brown, blue to neon blue, lime to dark forest green, red and reddish purple, yellow, pink, and colorless.

Bi-colored and multicolored tourmalines may be green at one end and pink at the other; watermelon tourmalines are green on the outside and pink on the inside. Some stones are dichotic meaning they appear to change color when viewed from different angles.

The most expensive tourmalines are the blue indicolite, green verdelite and pink rubellite.

Cat's Eye Tourmaline exhibits a "cat’s eye" effect similar to what is commonly seen in tiger's eye cabochons. Chrome Tourmaline is colored by chromium resulting in a beautiful green stone that is often confused with emerald or the tsavorite garnet. Indicolite is a dark bluish black stone. The Paraiba tourmaline is a bright neon-blue and Rubellite is a deep reddish purple stone. Schorl is the name given to black tourmalines which are the most commonly found tourmalines

 

 Turquoise

 

 

Turquoise is the one of the official birth stones for the month of December as adopted by the American National Association of Jewelers in 1912 and the planetary stone for Aquarius, Taurus and Sagittarius. See the birthstone tables for additional references to this stone.

The name turquoise is apparently related to the fact that it was brought to Europe from the Eastern Mediterranean by Levantine traders, more commonly known as Turks.  Its been used as a valuable ornament for ages and was used by the Egyptians thousands of years ago. The color is, of course, turquoise, but its range of color varies from green and greenish blue to sky blue shades.

For centuries, the most valuable turquoise came from Iran (Persia) but today some specimens mined in the southwestern United States compete with it.  The name "Persian Turquoise" is now generally used to refer to any turquoise stone that does not have the black or brown veining commonly found in turquoise mined in the United States and used in a style of jewelry created by the American Indians.

The Aztecs mined turquoise in an area now known as New Mexico and a significant amount of turquoise comes from Arizona, California and Nevada in the United States. 

Other minerals like chrysocolla have been used to imitate turquoise. Turquoise is often dyed and stabilized with resins to produce a harder stone which retains its color and polish. Reconstituted turquoise is made from small chips and "chalk" to which dyes and plastic resin is added. Pure turquoise is a relatively soft stone ranging between 5 and 6 on the Mohs scale of hardness