Gemstones

Jewellery has always been a big part of my life - you can hear my nana from a mile away with her clanging bangles and my uncle is a chain maker. I've always loved the glittering gems from the sparkles on Nana and Mum's fingers, my favourite books as a child were the Jewel Kingdom series, and I was a budding geologist at one point. I love my jewellery and have explored some amazing gemstones at Natural History museums in New York, Washington, and Sydney.

So this is my list of top five favourite gemstones.

1. Emeralds

Glittering green and the birthstone for May - the biggest birth month in my family - I'll admit that I've been more obsessed with emeralds ever since I won the Emerald Award in 2018. When I made the final four, I bought a cute pair of emerald studs as a gift for myself. Then when I won, I bought the pretty heart pendant that I now wear every day. 

Emeralds are cyclosilicates and the least precious of the four precious stones. While they're mined all over the world, Columbia undoubtedly has the most emeralds.

Emily was the Emerald Princess in the Jewel Kingdom series. She was the youngest at seven, had red hair, wore green, lived in the Greenwood, and had a pet unicorn.

My Emeralds

2. Rubies

Bright, blood red and the birthstone of July, I love rubies simply because of their colour - red! I have one pretty red heart ruby ring, which I don't wear because I haven't ever bothered to get it resized. 

Rubies are corundum. The largest ruby is the Burmese Ruby housed inside the Smithsonian's National Museum of Natural History, which means I've seen it! Except, apparently, I don't have a picture.

Roxanne was the Ruby Princess in the Jewel Kingdom series. She was the second oldest at nine, had black hair, wore red, lived in the Red Mountains, and had a pet dragon called Hapgood!

3. Diamonds

The most precious of stones and hardest substance on earth, diamonds are a girl's best friend. Except even when my aunt offered to buy me diamond earrings if I got my ears pierced on my ninth birthday, I still flatly refused. I mean, ouch! But don't worry, when I pierced them a few months later, that Christmas, I got my diamond earrings.

​Diamond's are the solid form of carbon with its atoms arranged in a crystal structure called diamond cubic. This is what makes it different from graphite, another solid form of carbon. There are far too many famous diamonds to name, but I have seen the supposedly 'cursed' Hope Diamond in the Smithsonian collection.

Demetra was the Diamond princess and my favourite. She was the eldest of her sisters and lived in the White Winterland. She had brown hair, wore white, and had a pet fox named Finley.

The Hope Diamond

4. Sapphires

Blue, glittering, and the birthstone of September, the sapphire is a winner for many. Unfortunately, I have another ring that has sapphires in it, except I haven't yet had it resized either.

Sapphires are corundum, just like rubies. The only difference between the two is their colour. All corundum is called a sapphire if they're not blue - pink sapphires, yellow sapphires - but if they're red, they're a ruby. Notable sapphires I've seen at the Smithsonian's Museum of Natural History in Washington DC include the Bismarck Sapphire Necklace, made by Cartier with a 98.56 caret sapphire, and the Logan Sapphire at 422.9 carets.
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Sabrina was the Sapphire Princess. She was the second youngest, eight years old, had blonde hair, wore blue, lived in the Blue Lake, and had a pet butterfly.

The Logan Sapphire

5. Topaz

While generally yellow/orange, topaz comes in many colours and is the official birthstone of November. I love topaz because of it's variety and beautiful transparency, however I don't have any topaz jewellery at the moment.
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There was no topaz princess, but don't worry, I made one up! Turns out in my world, the four Jewel Princesses had many more cousins. These were the first characters I ever created.

Topaz at the Smithsonian