Birthstones
UW’s Burke Museum has an interesting “online birthstone collection”:http://www.washington.edu/burkemuseum/collections/geology/birthstones/ up that “Gena Schwam”:http://www.livejournal.com/users/ggirl/ put together.
bq. *The lure of birthstones*
The basic human need to own and wear materials we deem “sacred” or special is what drives us to collect rocks and minerals. Perhaps this explains the lure of birthstones; how powerful it is to have our month of birth represented by a beautiful natural gemstone. We can own and display our special stone and feel embraced by its beauty.
I didn’t realize that jade was an alternate “birthstone for people born in August”:http://www.washington.edu/burkemuseum/collections/geology/birthstones/aug.php (peridot is the primary). That makes the jade earrings that I bought at the Smithsonian for Mary’s birthday back in August of 1999 all the more fitting.
