January Newsletter 2022

Happy New Year!

Newsletters at this time of year often do a sort of 'year in review' section but we are not going to look back instead we look forward to an exciting 2022!

First up is the new Pantone color of the year - Veri Peri! A totally new color 'invented' by the Pantone company. The 'Peri' in the title refers to periwinkle - a lovely little flower from the myrtle family which is grown in huge fields of color not far from us in the Mekong Delta of Vietnam.

The traditional color for periwinkle flowers is a light blue or pastel purple and the Veri Peri shade reflects this very well. Trying to match this new color to a gem stone is quite tricky but we have come up with a few that come pretty close.

Sapphires come in all colors and although they are most famously blue we have some Violet sapphires in stock that could be described as Veri Peri.

Perhaps an even closer match are the Violet Iolites.

Tanzanite is a rare and beautiful gemstone found in only one place on earth - Tanzania. It is well known for its violet blue color and some of the translucent cabochons are almost an exact match to the new color.

The fascinating opaque Charoite gemstones from Russia may be a bit bold with their swirls and patches but they are not too far away.

Out last choice is a bit more subdued but captures the tone quite well - violet Chalcedony.

Gemstone trading and shipping in the past

It looks like selling gemstones to all corners of the world is not such a modern innovation after all. Archaeologists working on a Bronze Age site on the Mediterranean island of Cyprus have uncovered a burial chamber containing gold necklaces and jewelry dating back 3500 years. As it turns out the jewelry includes Carnelian from India, Lapis Lazuli from Afghanistan and Amber from the Baltic showing an amazing network of trade across the ancient world. I bet they did not deliver them as quickly as we can!

A Sapphire too heavy to lift!

Ratnapura means city of gems in Sanskrit and has been the traditional center for the Sri Lankan gemstone trade for centuries. Some of the most famous gemstones in history have passed through this town including Princess Diana's engagement ring, the Timur Ruby and The Star of India. We can now add to this stream of fine quality gemstones the name, 'Queen of Asia', a blue sapphire that weighs 310 kilograms - that is kilograms not carats - and is valued at over $100m.

Finders Keepers?

A mountaineer who found a metal box containing a fortune in emeralds, sapphires and rubies has finally been rewarded for his honesty. The treasure trove was lost in a plane crash over 60 years ago and found by the French adventurer in 2013. He handed in the find and it has taken the best part of a decade to decide that the jewels should be shared between him and local authorities - his half has been valued at $170,000.

What would you have done? Kept them all and kept quite?

New Fashion Trends for 2022

Pinterest have listed their gemstone fashion predictions for 2022 and while we cannot promise any of them will come true it is a fun list to look at.

Among the predicted trends for 2022 include some new and interesting body locations for jewelry, the return of the 'goth' look (did it ever go away?), emotional escape rooms and Ancient Greece inspired jewelry.

Pinterest Predictions

The latest style of piercing is pretty hair-raising. Forget the ears, nose or belly button, now we can get pierced just about anywhere - hands, arms, hips, back of the neck, between the eyes - you name it - and then decorated with tiny studded gemstones.

Trending searches that look like they will continue into 2022 include tooth gems, ear curation and crystal eye make-up.

All these new trends incorporate tiny gemstones that decorate your teeth, eyes, ears or anywhere you can imagine and there is no better spot to find tiny gemstones of all shapes, types and colors than out gemstone lots page - I guarantee you will find the right one.

Gemstone Lots

Goths were around when I was at school - no I don't mean the original German tribe, I am not that old - and will be making a big comeback this year. For the Goth look, take a look at our great selection of black gemstones although purple, white and deep red can also match the fashion trend.

The need for Emotional Escape Rooms could be the result of many of us being cooped up at home and unable to find a quiet spot to be alone and include Rage rooms, Tiny Library rooms and Crystal rooms. We have been helping people decorate their homes with crystals for quite a while now and a recent article has some good advice about which gemstones can have positive emotional effects.

Gemstones to decorate your home

As for the new interest in the jewelry of Ancient Greece look no further than our great selection of cabochon gemstones for inspiration. Amethyst, citrine, carnelian, lapis lazuli, bloodstone and many more are just some of the classic stones used in that era.

Cabochon Gemstones

January Birthstone

January's birthstone is the Garnet - a very versatile gemstone that comes in a full rainbow of colors and a very wide range of prices to suit all budgets. If you or a loved one celebrates a birthday in January you are spoilt for choice - green, red, orange, yellow, pink, purple, and I could go on. They come in all shapes and sizes too. You don't know how lucky you are - my daughter has a birthday in December and doesn't like blue while my wife celebrates hers in May and hates green!

January Birthstone Info

By the way we have some lovely heart shaped red Pyrope garnets in our selection of new arrivals this month to add to the great examples we already have in stock and are well worth checking out. The red color easily rivals ruby and at a fraction of the price.

I think that will do for this year, time for us all to take a nice break over the long weekend to rest up before tackling what I am sure will be an enthralling 2022.

Once again a happy new year from us all at GemSelect.

Just time for a couple of your questions: