Wedding Anniversaries: Part II

There are some lovely gemstones to be given for the next five wedding anniversaries. The gemstone for the fifth wedding anniversary is the sapphire. Sapphires come in many colours although the best known colour is blue. When referring to sapphires that are not blue, the correct description is a pink sapphire or a yellow sapphire, but it is understood that when a stone is described as being a sapphire, it is a blue stone. So the fifth anniversary gemstone is a blue sapphire. The ring below is a classic snake ring with two heads, clear blue sapphires in each head crest and tiny diamond eyes.

The sixth anniversary gemstone is the amethyst and I have chosen a stunning example here, seen in the photo at the top of the post. This is a modern piece and comprises a large facetted amethyst which weighs 70 carats. On the front is a lovely bejewelled insect set with diamonds, rubies, sapphire and an aquamarine. It is a real statement piece.

The seventh anniversary has two gemstones listed, onyx or yellow sapphire. Onyx is an unusual stone to include here as it was associated with mourning during much of the 19^th century. I found this striking bracelet set with onyx though. It is an example of Chinese export silver which comprises objects made in China for export to foreigners. Silver was used as historically it was more valuable in China than gold.

There were three periods of Chinese Export Jewellery. The first was from 1785 to 1910, the second between 1911 to 1948 and the third was between 1971 to the 1990s. A particular style is known as Peking Style and it was made from the late 19^th century to the early 20^th century. It is made of silver mesh wirework decorated with precious stones and sometimes with cloisonné, and often Chinese characters. Precious stones like jade, rose quartz, amethyst, tourmaline, ruby sapphire, coral and so on were used. They could be carved or smooth cabochons. In this case, the cabochons are onyx. It has a real Art Deco feel.

Tourmaline is the gemstone for the eight wedding anniversary. Tourmalines are an underrated gemstone. It comes in a stunning range of colours – from greens, pinks, yellows, browns, blues, black, and lilac, to the red version called rubellite. Used as a gemstone since antiquity, tourmaline was not identified as a separate gemstone family until the early 1700s.  Before then, it was assumed that if a stone was green, it was an emerald, if blue, a sapphire, red a ruby and pink an amethyst, pink sapphire or topaz. The antique tourmaline necklace below shows off the colour range beautifully.

There are two gemstones listed for the ninth wedding anniversary – lapis lazuli or morganite. I have chosen lapis lazuli here. Lapis lazuli is a dark blue opaque stone, used since pre-historic times but never as popular for jewellery as turquoise. It can often have a scattering of pyrite in it. It was used by the Egyptians for scarabs and in jewellery as well as being powdered for use as a cosmetic. It is not a common stone. You can see a few examples of Renaissance, Georgian and Victorian jewellery with it but it was used a bit more in art deco jewellery. It’s a very pretty stone. Here we have an antique lapis lazuli locket, shaped as a heart with a diamond set surround and bale and a single pearl.

In the next post, I am going to concentrate on the gemstone for each decade of anniversary.