Newsletter February 2021

Christmas and New Year was such a busy time for us all at GemSelect that we did not have time to have our usual end of year party. We rescheduled it for the end of January and decided to make it extra special by going camping in the hills not far from our offices in Chanthaburi, Thailand.

January and February are considered the 'cool' season here and the elevation meant light jackets and sleeping bags would be needed and mosquitoes would not be a bother.

Back to work Monday February 1st, refreshed and ready for all the new challenges this year is sure to provide.

February gives us the first big celebration of the year with Valentine's Day. Chocolate, candy and flowers are popular gifts and more cards are sent on this day than any other except for Christmas but the most money is spent on jewelry and gemstones - nearly $6 billion in the US alone.

I have two excellent recommendations for Valentine's Day gemstones. Number one, of course, is the passionate red Ruby, a gemstone of love for thousands of years, while those of a more spiritual nature might prefer the stone of unconditional love, Rose Quartz.

Take a look at our recent article on gemstones for love here

That reminds me of a story my mum told me a long, long time ago when she and dad were first married. She woke up in the morning and told him how she had dreamed that he had given her a gorgeous and very expensive ruby ring for Valentine's Day. What do you think it means?

Dad just winked and said, ''You'll find out tonight.'

That evening, dad came home with a small present nicely gift wrapped.

Mum excitedly opened it up and saw a book called, 'The Meaning of Dreams.'

February also has Amethyst as its birthstone. This purple beauty has a history that stretches back 1000s of years and an association with royalty and religious leaders. The color purple has been linked to the rich and powerful since well before the time of the Ancient Romans and the simple reason was because how difficult it was to produce the color.

The only people who could produce purple dye were the Phoenicians who lived in what is now Lebanon. The dye was made from the shells of a snail and to produce one ounce of purple powder you needed 250,000 snail shells!

Purple clothes, sheets, accessories, drapes could only be afforded by the very wealthy and so the color was associated with affluence and Amethyst gemstones became to be worn by the upper classes only.

Amethyst is fairly inexpensive these days and can be found in all sorts of sizes and shapes - a perfect gift for a February birthday.

Customer Questions

Every month we answer questions of general interest from our customers. Please feel free to send your questions or suggestions to our support team at help@gemselect.com

That will do for this month.

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Everyone please stay safe

Happy Gemstone Hunting!

Team GemSelect