With several beautiful blue December birthstones to choose from, those born under the signs of Sagittarius and Capricorn have the pick of sky-coloured jewels to adorn themselves with.
Some of the very oldest gemstones used in jewellery, turquoise and lapis lazuli remain popular choices, and it’s not hard to see why. The ancients revered them. Turquoise’s name is thought to have come from the Old French word ‘turquois’, meaning Turkish, since Turkish traders were the first to bring Persian (Iranian) turquoise into Europe.
The Egyptians carved scarabs and other sacred symbols into it, then set it into precious gold amulets, rings and even burial masks. Meanwhile, the Chinese have used turquoise to craft exquisite beads, vases, ornaments and incense burners for over 3,000 years. In ancient Persia , it was ‘pērōzah, which means ‘victory’, and it was used to embellish instruments of war, such as daggers, or worn on necklaces to bless their owners with good fortune. To the Navajo People of America, it is a holy stone used to prevent evil, promote health, foster kinship, seek out groundwater or to pray to the gods of wind and rain.
Meanwhile, lapis lazuli has been unearthed in Afghanistan and exported to the rest of the world since the Neolithic era. It was also used by the ancient Mesopotamians, Egyptians, Assyrians and Babylonians, carved into official seals or set into jewellery and inlaid into statues and tombs. At one point, the stone’s rich and stable colour meant it became more prized than gold – ground into a fine powder and mixed with oils, it became the artist’s pigment known as ultramarine, used by the Renaissance painters to accent religious paintings (the blue was especially associated with the robe of the Virgin Mary) or by artists such as Vermeer to adorn the clothing of their subjects.
Now, with increasingly fewer gem-quality turquoise and lapis lazuli mines in operation, these minerals have become progressively rarer and more expensive, which may explain their presence in a host of high jewellery collections by the likes of Van Cleef & Arpels or Cartier, who previously festooned their jewellery with ‘traditional’ gems such as diamonds, rubies and sapphires.
More recently, other stones such as blue zircon, blue topaz and deep, purplish-blue tanzanite have been added to the December birthstone jewellery list, meaning a greater range of beautiful pieces is now available to spoil your loved ones right now.
Here, we pick our favourite December birthstone jewels. The winter blues have never looked quite so good…
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