August

August Birth Stone

August's birth stone is Ruby. If yours is the August birthstone, you have a stone for prosperity, a gem treasured by Sultans, and jewelry even a pirate could love.

August birthstones, peridot, are made from magnesium silicate and are a type of fosterite, one of the olivine minerals. Pure fosterite is colorless but iron makes it green by replacing 10% of the magnesium with iron. This August gemstone is found in volcanic basalts. They are soft and therefore can be scratched pretty easily.

Peridot has an oily appearance and a high birefringence. This is the name given to a particular property of light. When traveling through a crystal in a certain way, the light can split into two paths producing two images. In the case of peridot, light causes the edge of the back facets to appear doubled when viewed through the thickness of the stone.