“4 November birthstones”? Mistake, or silly pun on today’s date?
Neither! Here’s how there can be 4 different birthstones for November…meaning four times as much market for your jewelry creations this month!
STONE 1: The original source of today’s usual birthstone list is the “Foundation Stones” of the book of Revelations, in the New Testament. According to that ancient list, November’s birthstone is
topaz. The modern list agrees, and the traditional list of “zodiac stones” also has topaz for Sagittarius (November 23-December 21).
STONE 2: But! The modern birthstone list, established in 1952, contains an alternate November stone,
citrine.
STONE 3: Notice how Sagittarius doesn’t cover the whole calendar month? Another sign occupies the beginning of the month, which is why the other November zodiac birthstone is beryl — the stone of
Scorpio.
STONE 4: There’s also a traditional list of stones associated with the 12 apostles in early Christianity, where Matthew is associated with November. His stone is
amethyst, which is also the stone of November’s guardian angel Adnachiel (in ancient rabbinical writings). This gives us our fourth birthstone for this month.
All of this great information, plus the stones for the other 11 months and much more, is in Bruce G. Knuth’s superb book ”
Jeweler’s Resource: A Reference of Gems, Metals, Formulas and Terminology for Jewelers”. Thanks for this Rings & Things staff favorite, Bruce!
Got to have even more options? Check out Rings & Things’ selection of
birthstone-related products!
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