Gemstones – Background and Lore – Aquamarine

Aquamarine’s clear sea blue is reflected in its name, which is Latin for “sea water”. Sages from times ago thought water touched by aquamarine would heal afflictions of the eyes and lungs. It was also believed that the wearer of aquamarine was given foresight and heightened insight.

Aquamarine crystals can grow to be quite large. They tend to have very good clarity too. The color ranges from greenish blue to blue green in light tones. The color tends to be more intense in larger stones.

Brazil supplies most of the aquamarine these days, but it also originates in Australia, China, Kenya, Madagascar, Mozambique, Nigeria, Pakistan, US, and Zambia.

Aquamarine is the March birthstone. It is also known as the stone of courage. It accelerated the intellectual reasoning process and makes one unstoppable through learning – not only of the teachings of the past and present, but of oneself. According to legend, it has origin in the treasure chests of mermaids, and is considered good luck for sailors.

Aquamarine has a hardness of 7.5-8 on the Moh’s Scale of Hardness, and it has good toughness. It is not recommended to expose the aquamarine to heat, but it is stable when exposed to light. Aquamarine does not tolerate exposure to hydrofluoric acid.

Aquamarines are routinely heat treated to remove yellow, resulting in a purer blue color.

To clean your aquamarine, ultrasonic cleaning and steam cleaning are usually safe as long as there are no feathers or liquid inclusions in the stone. The safest way to clean the stone is with warm, soapy water.

Some alternatives to aquamarine are blue topaz, sapphire, spinel, tanzanite, and tourmaline.

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