Aquamarine is a semi precious gem from the Beryl family, the same family as Emerald. It is famous for its sea blue like colours and for its excellent clarity and transparency. Its name was derived from the Latin word seawater. Major sources of Aquamarine include Brazil, Madagascar, Russia, Pakistan and the USA.  Aquamarine is the birthstone for the month of March. Santa Maria aquamarine represents a particular shade of blue in a deeply saturated hue. This colour was originally discovered at the Santa Maria de Itabira mine, in Minas Gerais, Brazil. In the gem trade, ‘Santa Maria’ can also describe any aquamarine stone displaying this colour. The original deposit is almost exhausted, and today most of the Santa Maria aquamarines are sourced from sub-Saharan countries of Africa, including Mozambique.

Sapphires are a variety of the mineral corundum as are the equally famous and valuable Rubies. Rubies make up the red side of the family while Sapphires are all the other colors – the famous blue as well as pink, green, purple, orange and yellow. There are also black and colorless Sapphires. The traditional blue sapphire represents loyalty, wisdom, truth, sincerity and faithfulness both in religious matters and in personal relationships. Sri Lanka is the oldest known source of sapphires along with India and Burma (now called Myanmar). As of 2007, Madagascar has been leading the world in sapphire production, though Sri Lanka continues to be the only steady producer of fine quality blue sapphire. Sapphire is the birthstone of September.