What's the Birth Stone & Acrostic Jewellery Story?

Personalised jewellery is created to tell a special story about the wearer, or other people, places or special times in their life.

The story can be as obvious as letters, words, names or dates in engraved jewellery, or as subtle as a message told with symbols, flowers or even precious stones.

Just like flowers, each stone has several different meanings and this blog looks at some of the ways you can tell a story with a precious stone or gemstone keepsake.

 

 

Birth Stones For Different Months

Most of us are familiar with the beloved signet ring! A treasured piece of jewellery that tells the story of the wearer with engraved initials or a birthstone to represent the month of the wearer's birth.  Sometimes a signet ring will have both! 

The faceted sparkly birth stones listed below are usually set in these little rings, but you can also create a birthstone ring, bracelet, pendant or earrings using birthstones of all shapes and sizes. 

Instead of birthstones, some signet rings can actually be set with natural diamonds to create the initial of the wearer in precious, forever stones!  

 

January's Garnet - Loyalty

February's Amethyst - Sincerity

March's Aquamarine - Courage

April's Diamond - Purity 

May's Emerald - Happiness 

June's Alexandrite - Health 

July's Ruby - Love 

August's Peridot - Enthusiasm 

September's Sapphire - Wisdom 

October's Rose Zircon - Hope 

November's Yellow Topaz or Citrine - Friendship 

December's Blue Zircon - Prosperity 

Oh My Giddy Aunt has a wonderful range of ready-made solid gold or sterling silver jewellery in stones for all months of the year, and if you have a little bit of time we can also create a piece of jewellery just for you! Find more about the ancient and modern birthstones on this link.

 

What are Mother or Family Rings? 

Family and Mother's Rings are similar to signet rings but instead of setting just one, single stone to represent one person, several different birth stones are used to tell the story of children or loved ones. 

Each stone usually represents the birth month of a family member or friend but as this jewellery is made to order you can choose the stones you want to tell the story you would like to tell. 

Just like a real family, each 'member' is different, but somehow they all fit together!

What is Acrostic Jewellery?

Acrostic jewellery also uses stones to tell a story - or rather - to SPELL a story!

Instead of the meaning of the stone, a story is spelt using the first letter of the stone's name. Stones are positioned in order so together the first letters of each stone's name spells out initials, names, a motto, wish or secret word.

Acrostic jewellery is thought to have started in France in the late 18th century and then spread to England and America. The popularity of "message jewellery" grew in a time of great interest in acrostic poetry, linguistic puzzles, hieroglyphics and other codes.

The romantic Victorian era saw a boon in Acrostic Jewellery and the traditional DEAREST Rings (Diamond, Emerald, Amethyst, Ruby, Emerald, Sapphire, Topaz) - pictured above - and REGARD Rings (Ruby, Emerald, Garnet, Amethyst, Ruby, Diamond) come to us from that time.
Other Popular Acrostic words include DEAR (Diamond, Emerald, Amethyst, Ruby), LOVE (Lapis, Opal, Vermeil, Emerald), ADORE (Amethyst, Diamond, Onyx, Ruby, Emerald) and JE TAIME (Jet, Emerald, Topaz, Amethyst, Iolite, Malachite, Emerald).

Today, Oh My Giddy Aunt's Acrostic Jewellery follows in the tradition of hundreds of years of Acrostic Jewellery but as each piece is usually unique, it needs to be custom made to your size by master jewellers in Australia, a truly beautiful way to convey a message to last a lifetime.

Speaking acrostic-ally (if there is indeed such a word), we wish you lots of Lapis, Opal, Vermeil, Emerald in the stories of your life!