August Birthstone – Peridot
When you think of summer colors, you think cool blues, bright yellow, and vibrant greens. With these colors in mind, it is no wonder that the Peridot gemstone, a vibrant olive green color, is the birthstone for the month of August.
The Peridot gemstone is one of the oldest gemstone found in jewelry. Dating back to 2nd millennium B.C., Peridots have been found in many Egyptian jewelry designs commonly worn by the royalty of that time. Formed from volcanic activity, these gemstones found in Egypt were believed to have come from a small volcanic island found in the Red Sea.
The Peridot gemstone was also commonly used during the medieval times, and can be found throughout Europe in medieval churches.
Today, Peridot are most commonly mined in Egypt, Arkansas, Arizona, Hawaii, Nevada, New Mexico, Australia, Brazil, China, Kenya, Mexico, and Pakistan.
The Peridot gemstone is an olive green color. This color is determined by how much iron is found within the gemstone. The darker the color green, the more valuable the stone. For an untrained eye, these darker gemstone could easily be mistaken for emeralds. In fact, Peridot are sometimes called “evening emeralds”.
