Birthstone Guide - Modern

FEBRUARY
Amethyst
According to Greek legend, Bacchus created this beautiful purple stone, thus anyone wearing an amethyst could not become intoxicated.

MARCH
Aquamarine
Ancient Greeks believed aquamarine held the spirit of the sea. To the early Christians it symbolized harmony, happiness, innocence, youthfulness and purity.

APRIL
Diamond
Everyone's best friend. It symbolizes eternity and courage.

MAY
Emerald
Gem-quality emeralds are so rare they are considered more valuable than diamonds. The ancient Egyptian emerald mines near the Red Sea were worked as early as 2000 B.C., and were the main source of emeralds for the West until the 16th century. By this time finer quality emeralds were being mined in Columbia.

JUNE
Pearl
Its rich white lustre symbolizes a pure heart.

JULY
Ruby
Rubies are believed to have great powers, ensuring a peaceful, harmonious and healthy life. It is also thought to control one's passions and thoughts.

AUGUST
Peridot
This stone was mined as early as 1300 B.C. near the Red Sea.Today they are found in Arizona and Asia.

SEPTEMBER
Sapphire
Persians believed the earth rested on an enormous sapphire and the sky reflected its colour.

OCTOBER
Opal
This stone is said to bring emotional, physical and mental harmony. Fire opals are said to stimulate passion.

NOVEMBER
Citrine
A member of the Quartz family (like Amethyst) – said to bring light heartedness and joy

 DECEMBER
Blue Topaz
Commonly found in Brazil and USA in a variety of blue shades – symbol of love and affection.

Tanzanite
Formed over 585 million years ago, discovered at the foot of Mount Kilimanjaro and ‘christened’ in 1968 radiating a beautiful mix of blue and violet
 

Jewellery Cleaning

We provide a polishing and cleaning service for jewellery where the items are polished, cleaned and then Rhodium-plated if required. Cleaning jewellery at home can often be carried out safely using detergent-less soap in luke-warm water with soft toothbrush and rinsed thoroughly and dried.

We also do sell jeweller’s cleaning fluid for specific purposes, eg silver, pearls, gems…feel free to email an enquiry to us.

The following is a guide for the cleaning of gemstones.

Hardness
This is as per the Mohs scale of hardness

Toughness
Is the rating which refers to how the stone will react to the various processes used during manufacturing & repair of jewellery. A rating of "excellent" means the stone is reasonably safe as long as all due care is excerised. A stone which is" poor "means extreme care is needed or the processes avoided entirely.The table above only shows the various cleaning process, similar care is needed when soldering, polishing and pickling.

Gemstones

DIAMOND
Formed under high temperatures and pressure 50 miles or more underground. The hardest mineral on Earth, with it’s exceptional lustre and brilliant fire, makes it the most highly prized of all gems. A J Winski Jewellers will not knowingly sell "Conflict Diamonds" and to the best of our ability we will undertake reasonable measures to help prevent the sale of "Conflict Diamonds" in this country in accordance with the Kimberley Process.

RUBY
The rich red of ruby is produced by the presence of chromium in the mineral Corundum. The best ruby’s colour is described as pigeon’s blood” and is found in the Mogok area of Burma. The stimulating rich red colour is said to represent heat, life and power and to ensure a peaceful and healthy life.

SAPPHIRE
This gem is a variety of the mineral Corundum, which is the hardest mineral after diamond. The blue colour and the depth of this colour is caused by the presence and the amount of iron and titanium oxides in the mineral. Sometimes called “gem of the heavens”, Persians believed that the earth rested on an enormous sapphire and the sky reflected its beautiful blue colour. Sapphires do come in many colours.

PINK SAPPHIRE
Among the most beautiful of the corundum family, Pink Sapphires occur in Sri Lanka, Burma and East Africa. It is debated whether or not this, the most popular non-blue sapphire is in fact a pink ruby. The colour varies from a very pale and delicate pink to a near-red. It is believed that if the stone is worn directly on the skin it will ward off ill-health and misfortune.

EMERALD
The earliest known gem market in Babylon was trading emeralds as early as 4000 BC. This gem is a variety of the mineral Beryl and occurs within dark shales and limestones in Colombia’s Muzor and Chivor regions. Until the Spanish conquest of Colombia in the 16th century, Egypt and Austria supplied the Romans and medieval Europe. Some very fine stones are also mined at Sandawana in Zimbabwe, Kitwe in Zambia and Swat in Pakistan.

TOPAZ
A symbol of love and affection, this clear, bright gemstone is believed to inherit its name from the Sanskrit meaning, ‘fire’. Topaz can be found in a variety of colours including yellow, green, orange, pinkish-red and brown. Dug out of sand and gravel blue Topaz is found in Colorado, Nigeria and Russia. Ancient Greeks believed it had the power to increase strength and was also said to change colour in the presence of poisoned food or drink.

OPAL
The iridescence of this stone can be seen against a light background (white opal) or a dark background (black opal). When the flash or play of colour is seen inside a transparent stone the name water opal is used. Ancient Romans believed opals to be a symbol of hope because they contain the colours of the rainbow and Arabs thought the fiery colour was created while falling from the sky in flashes of lightning.

FIRE OPAL
These stones tend to have one body of colour, the most common of which is reddish-orange, but they can range from pale yellow to
dark orange.

AMETHYST Is the best known form of quartz, colour ranging from deep to light purple. Ancient belief held that anyone wearing an amethyst could not become intoxicated.

PERIDOT
The attraction of this stone lies in its rich “oily” green colour, which ranges from pale golden green to brownish green. First found on St. John’s Island in the Red Sea as early as 1300 BC but now mined in Arizona, Burma and Norway.

ONYX
Primarily sourced in the U.S, Germany and Mexico, Onyx occurs naturally in black but can also be found in brown, grey and white.  The stone is believed to help change bad habits, its also a good grounding stone which is thought to be useful in deflecting and absorbing the negativity of others.

GARNET
Its blood red colour has been likened to the flesh of a ripe pomegranate and the name garnet is derived from the Latin word granatum. There are three distinct shades of red:
• blood red - Pyrope garnet
• deep blood red - Almandine garnet and
• rose-lavender - Rhodolite garnet.
This red stone was once thought to cure fever and promote good health.

RHODOLITE
Rhodolite, sometimes known as Raspberry Rhodolite Garnet, is a combination of almandine and pyrope. The name is derived from the Greek words rhodon and lithos, meaning rose-stone. It is believed to balance emotion and foster greater awareness.

CITRINE
The golden lemon colour of this member of the quartz family has long been a symbol of light heartedness and joy.

TOURMALINE
The name Tourmaline is said to have originated from the Sinhalese term, ‘turmali’ meaning ‘mixed’. Its unusually bright shade of pink is said to bring compassion, trust and self-love. Referred to as the ‘muses’ stone, many believe that its imaginative colours contain inspirational powers. During the Manchu Dynasty in China, members of the Mandarin class wore buttons made of Tourmaline in order to distinguish themselves from other citizens. Tourmaline is considered to be piezoelectric, meaning that it has the ability to become electrically charged when rubbed.

CORNELIAN
Also known as Sadoine or Mecca Stone, the name Cornelian is derived from Carne, the Latin for ‘flesh’, due to the stones colouring. A deeply religious stone that is thought to balance creativity and mental processes, protecting against envy and fear. To this day  Buddhists in China and India believe in the protective powers of the Cornelian and follow the Egyptian practice of setting the stone with turquoise for enhanced power.

CULTURED PEARLS
The cultured pearl has been produced in China for several centuries but the modern industry was founded in Japan in the late 19th century. Cultured pearls are available in a fantastic range of shapes, sizes colours and shades. The iridescent lustre arises from the interference of light reflected from the bounties of the thin layers of nacre, which is deposited on the nucleus inserted into an oyster or
mussel.

TURQUOISE
One of the first gemstones ever used for jewellery, this mineral was highly valued by the Egyptians as early as 6000 B.C and was first found buried with a 7500-year-old mummy. In Persian, Turquoise is known as Ferozah, meaning victorious and is the national gemstone of Iran to this day. The soft, opaque gemstone is believed to bring happiness and good fortune to all and its natural sky-blue colour comes from the presence of copper, which also makes it an excellent conductor.

A J Winski Jewellers cordially wish to thank and acknowledge Cookson Precious Metals for most of the above information on Gemstones and, in particular, the Cleaning Guide Table.

Watch Care

We recommend that mechanical watches and higher quality quartz watches be serviced every 3-5 years, depending on usage and dust water protection of the watch.  Modern synthetic oils do not dry up us quickly as the older mineral when we had to service watches every 2 years.

The process involves stripping the watch movement, cleaning, replacing any worn or damaged parts, re-assembling and carefully oiling all moving parts. Mechanical watches are checked for timekeeping and whether ‘in beat’. Watches are then tested over a period to check going and automatic watches tested on a special ‘automatic winder’ or tested on the wrist on some occasions.

With quartz watches, we do not recommend pulling out the crown to save on batteries as we have found in practice that sometimes the watches just won’t go after pushing the crown back in after a period of weeks or months. Sometimes we can dust out and quickly oil wheel pivots and the watch will work, but many times the movement will need to be serviced or even exchanged.