Birthstones for June; Moonstone, Alexandrite, Pearl

June Birthstones (Pearl, alexandrite, and moonstone).

The June birthstones are formed in oceans, lakes, and rivers across the globe. June birthstones are an essential staple for women of all ages. In medieval times it was believed that pearls were created from teardrops fallen from heaven which was a popular belief in the Middle East. Chinese-linked formation of the June birthstone occurs in the brain of a dragon. Explorers like Christopher Columbus and his fellows thought pearls were created inside mollusks from dew drops.

Historically natural pearls have receded in their natural habitat. Cultured pearls have replaced the majority of pearls with artificial ones in sales. Cultured pearl birthstones have a variety of colors, sizes, and shapes. Pearls are associated with purity, humility, and innocence. The June birthstone means sweet simplicity in the literal sense. Traditionally pearls were used to be given as a wedding gift which has changed in modern times.

Three birthstones of June are as follows: Pearls, alexandrite, and ruby.

Alexandrite was discovered from three Ural Mountains of Russia in 1830s which is one type of mineral chrysoberyl. Alexandrite consists of titanium, iron, and chromium. The name of the stone comes after Prince Alexander II who was born in the same year that they found alexandrite in Russia.

Moonstone

Origin

June birthstones are found mainly in rivers, oceans, and seas. Many myths are associated with the origin of June birthstones. The most common myth was based on the assumption that moonstones are made of dew drops. some believe moonstones are formed are created by mollusks. Moonstones are organic gems formed within the tissue of saltwater or fresh water in oysters and mussels. Natural peaks are usually made with the invasion of dirt or any particle from outside as mollusks secrete a substance called nacre to prevent irritation as a result of the invasion of parasites into the shell of sea creatures having shells that later turn into pearls.

Cultured pearls are man-made they are given condition and artificially placed a sand particle or parasite in the tissue of mollusks which secretes nacre to form pearls. Peals are harvested by implanted with parasite or sand particles in the tissue of saltwater or freshwater mollusks. Mollusks are protected from predators and cleaned to get pearls as a byproduct. Cultured stones come in different colors, shapes, and sizes harvested in man-made areas.

The Akoya cultured stones are mainly found in Japan and China, particularly in parts of Guangxi province and the Coastal areas of Guangdong. In South Sea cultures peals are harvested in northern Australia via Indonesia towards the south coast. Southeast Asia. The Philippines is another hub of artificially gown pearls that are distributed throughout the world. Tahitian black pearls are artificially grown in two locations Gambier Islands, and Tuamatotu Archipelago which are part of French Polynesia.

The natural pearls are located mostly in Arabian Gulf also called as Persian Gulf which was discovered 5,000 years ago. More so, June birthstones have been extracted from the Red Sea since 300 BCE. Another location of natural pearls is the strait of Mannarwhere pearls were recovered from 2000 BCE.

Moreover, in Spanish Colonial rule pearls were extracted from Mexico and Central America which is present-day known as Venezuela.

Moonstones are the most common June gemstones. They come from the feldspar family having a unique color which is adularescence that is different from other types of gem stones. The color of moonstones changes in light. Moonstones are of different colors including orange, red, pink, yellow, and grey. Moonstones sometimes have multi-color or they can have no color at all. It changes in moonstones as it depends on the refraction of light that passes through the moonstones. Moonstones are widely used in jewelry and ornaments as they have more flexibility to be molded in different shapes and are fixed into different materials.

Moonstones are created during the hydrothermal processes that occur in combination with magmatic processes. The crystallization of magma takes place in the earth's crust which produces different kinds of ingenious rocks for example, pegmatite and granite. In the cooling phase, the magma solidified the feldspar mineral which includes albite and orthoclase forms a crystalline structure by interlocking crystals inside the rocks.

The formation of moonstones required an exsolution process. Exsolution is a process in which one mineral is isolated from the other mineral inside the crystal structure as they have differences in their chemical properties and temperature. In moonstones, albite orthoclase feldspars are separated into additional layers that deflect light in different directions and produce an adularescence effect.

A moonstone mostly consists of orthoclase feldspar with small traces of albite feldspar. The chemical formula is (Na, K)AlSi3O8. It consists of sodium and potassium ions within an international crystalline structure. Moonstones are known to be the most durable gemstones that are suitable for making jewelry. Moonstones are hard stones that have a hardness of 6-6.5 and a gravity of 2.5-2.6.

The exploration and extraction of moonstones need different geological methods which are mapping, geophysical surveys, drilling, and sampling.

These techniques help to identify and likely potential locations of moonstone deposits found in Earth's crust. The extraction of moonstones largely depends on the quality and value of moonstone extracts found in different places.

The transparent moonstones that are bluish and adularescencewhich is shimmer have more value. The high-quality mood stones are from Sri Lanka which has had deep legs over the years. The prices of bluish moonstones have increased to a greater extent.

The moonstones have different colors that range from brown to orange and green. These types of moonstones are usually cost-effective and easily available for buyers. The classic moonstones are cut as cabochons which have a dome to enhance the adularescence. The large size moonstones are around 15 carats which is rare. Moonstones with silver-white adularescence have different size ranges that go up to 100 carats.

Moonstones are relatively soft and have a hardness of 6 on the Mohs scale. Moonstone can crack in case of mounted pressure on it. The moonstone jewelry that consists of rings and bracelets, pendants, and brooches should be kept with care to avoid the cracking of moonstones.