Birthstones, and who decided them.
Two traditions assign gemstones to people: the American trade list fixed by month in 1912, and the Indian navaratna assigned by graha and by day of the week. They disagree, the American list has been revised three times, and the disagreement is the useful part. This page sets out who decided what, and when.
- List adopted
- 1912
- Revisions since
- 3
- Sources cited
- 8
- Sources last read
- 22 August 2026
The list, as adopted and as published today
The birthstone list in ordinary commercial use is American and it is dated. A single schedule was adopted in 1912 in place of the several then circulating, and it has been edited three times since. There are two columns for the present day rather than one because the two institutions most often cited for the list do not publish the same list.
| Month | Adopted 1912 | GIA today | Jewelers of America today |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | Garnet | Garnet | Garnet |
| February | Amethyst | Amethyst | Amethyst |
| March | Bloodstone, or aquamarine | Aquamarine, bloodstone | Aquamarine |
| April | Diamond | Diamond | Diamond |
| May | Emerald | Emerald | Emerald |
| June | Pearl, or moonstone | Pearl, alexandrite, moonstone | Pearl, moonstone, alexandrite |
| July | Ruby | Ruby | Ruby |
| August | Sardonyx, or peridot | Peridot, spinel, sardonyx | Peridot, spinel |
| September | Sapphire | Sapphire | Sapphire |
| October | Opal, or tourmaline | Opal, tourmaline | Opal, tourmaline |
| November | Topaz | Topaz, citrine | Citrine, topaz |
| December | Turquoise, or lapis lazuli | Tanzanite, turquoise, zircon | Turquoise, tanzanite, blue zircon |
The two current columns agree on nine months and part company on three. GIA carries bloodstone for March and sardonyx for August where Jewelers of America carries neither, and December’s third stone is zircon on one list and blue zircon on the other. December is the sharpest case: turquoise in 1912, zircon added in 1952, tanzanite added in 2002, and lapis lazuli, the original alternate, quietly gone. No standards body has ever adjudicated any of it, because none exists for this.
Four decisions, all of them commercial
No church, state or laboratory has ever ruled on birthstones. Every edit to the list in commercial use was made by an association of jewellers, and each is on the record with a date and a named body.
- 1912
The American jewellery trade
A single schedule of twelve months was adopted, replacing the several older lists then circulating. Kunz, writing the following year, records the approval as that of the National Association of Jewellers at its meeting in Kansas City in August. Jewelers of America, the successor body, names the association as the American National Retail Jewelers Association and gives no venue.
- 1952
The same association, later Jewelers of America
Alexandrite was added for June, tourmaline for October, citrine for November and zircon for December. Tourmaline had already stood as October’s alternate in 1912, so on that month the 1952 change formalised what the first schedule had offered.
- 2002
American Gem Trade Association
Tanzanite was added for December, announced on 30 October. Trade press at the time put December’s standing list at turquoise and zircon, so lapis lazuli, the 1912 alternate, had already fallen out by then.
- 2016
American Gem Trade Association and Jewelers of America
Spinel was added for August alongside peridot, announced jointly on Wednesday 1 June and taken to consumers that July through a marketing campaign led by Jewelers of America.
Once we allow the spirit of commercialism pure and simple to dictate the choice of such stones, according to the momentary interest of dealers, there is grave danger that the only true incentive to acquire birth-stones will be weakened.
A second system that does not work by month
Jyotisha, the Indian astrological tradition, assigns nine gems to the nine grahas: the seven classical bodies plus the two lunar nodes. Set together in a single jewel they are the navaratna, and surviving pieces sit in museum collections, including a nineteenth century northern Indian bracelet held by the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Reference sources set the system out by graha and by day of the week. There is no month column in it, so there is nothing in the sources for a month-to-navaratna conversion table to have been built from.
| Graha | Body | Day | Gem assigned |
|---|---|---|---|
| Surya, or Ravi | Sun | Sunday | Ruby |
| Chandra, or Soma | Moon | Monday | Pearl |
| Mangala | Mars | Tuesday | Red coral |
| Budha | Mercury | Wednesday | Emerald |
| Guru, or Brihaspati | Jupiter | Thursday | Yellow sapphire, or topaz |
| Shukra | Venus | Friday | Diamond |
| Shani | Saturn | Saturday | Blue sapphire |
| Rahu | Ascending lunar node | — | Hessonite, or zircon |
| Ketu | Descending lunar node | — | Cat's eye |
Two of the nine carry contested English names, and the disagreement is a buying problem rather than a scholarly one. Gomeda is given as hessonite or as zircon depending on the source; pushyaraga as yellow sapphire or as topaz. Those are different species at very different prices, and a jewel described only by a Sanskrit name has not told you which one is in the setting. Get the species written down before money moves.
Why the same month gives different stones
They are different systems answering different questions. The American list divides the year into twelve months. Jyotisha divides the sky into nine grahas and turns on where those stood at a person’s birth. Neither was built to be converted into the other.
The American list has itself been edited three times since 1912, and the two institutions most often quoted for it disagree on three months today. A page quoting 1912 and a page quoting 2016 can both be accurate and still contradict each other.
Older lists survive alongside both, including the arrangements traced to the breastplate in Exodus and the foundation stones in Revelation. Those are the ancestry of the idea, not the source of any list now sold against.
What holds whichever list you follow
A buyer who came for a birthstone and a buyer who came for a chart-indicated stone are exposed to exactly the same four things, and none of them is astrological. This is the part the register can stand behind.
- 01
Is it the species the seller named
Many names on any birthstone list are varieties or trade names rather than species. Bloodstone and sardonyx are both chalcedony, alexandrite is chrysoberyl, and topaz and citrine are separate species that have long been sold under one another’s names. Ask what the stone is gemmologically, in writing.
Trade glossary - 02
What has been done to it
Heat, fracture filling, diffusion, dyeing and irradiation all sit inside the ordinary trade and all move the price. Disclosure is the standard, not the exception. Treatment that is not stated is not therefore absent.
Buying guides - 03
Is there a report, and from whom
A report is an opinion from a named laboratory on a specific stone, with a number you can check against that laboratory’s own database. A certificate of authenticity written by the seller is not that.
Laboratory reference - 04
Who is selling it, and what is on the record
This is the only one of the four the register answers itself. GemsVerified assesses dealers on legitimacy, certification practice and disclosure, and publishes what it checked and when. It does not assess stones.
Browse the register
If you want the astrological reading
GemsVerified and Deluxe Astrology share common ownership. We state that here, beside the link and before it, because a register that trades on independence cannot point at a related commercial property and leave the reader to discover the connection somewhere else.
No fee is paid or received for the link, it is marked nofollow, and it confers no standing on this register. Nothing published there has been assessed by GemsVerified.
This register does not read charts and will not suggest a stone. Deluxe Astrology publishes a gemstone suggestion page for readers who want that side of the subject. We have not evaluated it and make no claim about what it recommends or on what basis. The four checks above apply to anything a reader goes on to buy.
Deluxe Astrology gemstone suggestionExternal site, opens in a new tab and marked nofollow. Outside the scope of anything GemsVerified verifies.
Sources
Every dated statement on this page traces to one of these. Read on 22 August 2026.
- Full text
George Frederick Kunz, The Curious Lore of Precious Stones, J. B. Lippincott, 1913, chapter on birth-stones
The 1912 schedule as adopted, the Kansas City meeting, and the objection to both.
- GIA birthstones
Gemological Institute of America, birthstone pages, one per month
GIA’s current list, read from the twelve month pages rather than from a summary.
- Jewelers of America
Jewelers of America, Birthstone Jewelry guide
The successor body’s current list, and its own account of the 1912 origin.
- Trade press
National Jeweler, "Rocks On: The Evolution of the Birthstone List", 29 August 2016
The 1952 additions month by month, attributed to Jewelers of America.
- Trade press
JCK, "Tanzanite becomes a December birthstone", Hedda Schupak, 1 November 2002
The AGTA announcement of 30 October 2002, and December’s standing list at that date.
- Trade press
National Jeweler, "JA, AGTA Add Spinel as August Birthstone", 2 June 2016
The joint spinel announcement, and the count of revisions since 1912.
- Reference entry
Encyclopaedia Britannica, "navagraha", Charles Preston
The nine grahas with the gem and the weekday assigned to each.
- Collection record
The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Nine-Gem (Navaratna) Talismanic Bracelet, One of a Pair, Northern India, 19th century
The navaratna as a surviving object rather than a description of one.
Questions
What is the birthstone for December?
Three stones, and which three depends on who is answering. GIA lists tanzanite, turquoise and zircon. Jewelers of America lists turquoise, tanzanite and blue zircon. The 1912 schedule gave turquoise with lapis lazuli as its alternate; zircon was added in 1952 and tanzanite in 2002, by which point lapis lazuli had dropped out. That is why the same question returns different answers on different pages.
Is there one official birthstone list?
No. The lists published by GIA and by Jewelers of America agree on nine months and differ on three: GIA gives bloodstone for March and sardonyx for August where Jewelers of America gives neither, and the two word December’s zircon differently. Both are respectable sources. Neither is a standards body for this, because no standards body exists for it.
Is the birthstone list ancient?
The idea of twelve stones tied to twelve months is old and is usually traced to the breastplate described in Exodus and the foundation stones in Revelation. The list in commercial use is not old. It was adopted by an American jewellers’ association in 1912 and edited by trade associations in 1952, 2002 and 2016.
Why does Indian tradition give a different stone for my birth month?
Because jyotisha does not index by month. The navaratna assigns nine gems to the nine grahas, and reference sources set that system out by planet and by day of the week, with no month column to convert from. What is held to matter is the position of the planets at a person’s birth, read by a practitioner. A table converting a calendar month into a navaratna stone does not appear in the sources.
Does GemsVerified say a birthstone works?
No. Whether a stone influences a life outcome is not a claim any laboratory or register can test, so this register makes no such claim and repeats none as fact. What is documented is the practice itself: who assigned which stone, when, and on whose authority. That is what this page covers.
Does GemsVerified certify the stone I buy?
No. GemsVerified assesses dealers on legitimacy, certification practice and disclosure, and publishes the date of the last check on every profile. It never verifies an individual stone. For a stone you want an independent laboratory report carrying a number you can check with the laboratory that issued it.