Early civilizations such as India and Babylon have attributed gemstones with magical properties. Over time, astrologers assigned gems of certain colors to the twelve signs of the zodiac to help people influence the planets in their favor.

Birthstones

A birthstone is a gift of a precious material (jewelry, mainly gemstones; themselves traditionally associated with various qualities) that symbolizes the month of birth in the Gregorian Calendar. It is sometimes also called birthday stone (cf. infra; but that word is, confusingly, sometimes used as a synonym for an anniversary gift, which is related to the recipient's age, that is, year of birth).

Traditional birthstones

Often combined with modern birthstone lists, traditional birthstones are older society-based birthstones. Since many different cultures had their own list, jewelers' lists are often inconsistent over what constitutes a traditional birthstone. The table below contains many stones which are popular choices, often reflecting Polish tradition.

The Gregorian calendar has poems matching each month with its birthstone. These are traditionally the stones in English-speaking societies. Three of the verses are repeats,

Modern birthstones

In 1912, in an effort to standardize them, the American national association of jewelers, Jewelers of America, officially adopted a list, shown in the "Modern" column in the table below. It is currently the most widely used list in the United States and many other locations, including Australia and Thailand. Some alternates have been adopted to be a less expensive substitute for a cut stone. Tanzanite was added to December by the American Gem Trade Association in 2002. Most organizations do not recognize tanzanite as a December birthstone, however, and the AGTA's move to make it a December birthstone has generally been viewed as a marketing ploy.Fact: date=July 2008

Mystical birthstones

Mystical Birthstones are of Tibetan origin and date back over a thousand years.

Ayervedic birthstones

The Ayurvedic birthstone list is from the ancient Indian medicine and philosophy dating back to ancient India (1500 BC).

History of birthstones

The first century Jewish historian Josephus proclaimed a connection between the twelve stones in the Aaron's breastplate, the twelve months of the year and the twelve signs of the zodiac.Fact: date=September 2008 The Breastplate of Aaron, referred to in Exodus 39:10-14:

10 Then they mounted four rows of precious stones on it. In the first row there was a ruby, a topaz and a beryl;

11 in the second row a turquoise, a sapphire and an emerald;

12 in the third row a jacinth, an agate and an amethyst;

13 in the fourth row a chrysolite, an onyx and a jasper. They were mounted in gold filigree settings.