Finding a beautiful birthstone color chart with reliable information is a real trick. A few years back, when I looked for birthstone charts, I found a few pretty ones, but none that were worth pinning on my Pinterest boards because they had the wrong information.
Soooo… what’s with the pretty but wrong charts??
How do I know they were wrong? Because the “official” charts listed different stones.
I went on the hunt and discovered that – in all fairness – “official” birthstones are arguable, considering the innumerable ancient and modern traditions.
But the most credible birthstone experts listed the same information from the same sources.
So I went directly to the source and made my own birthstone color charts!
Some people looking at my charts may not realize this or read this explanation, but I’ve highlighted it here so it’s easier to see. That way you’ll all know where the info came from. Okydoke? Now let’s take a look.
Birthstone Color Charts & Lists
Click any picture below to take you to a pin-able birthstone chart… one that’s both pretty to look at AND has correct information. Yeah! 🙂
1. Birthstone Color Chart
An acceptable alternative to any birthstone is another stone of a similar color. Here’s the perfect chart for finding birthstone alternatives by color.
Birthstone Color List
| January – Deep Red February – Purple March – Light Blue (alternative: Green) April – White (alternative: Clear) May – Green June – Light Purple (alternative: White) | July – Red August – Light Green September – Deep Blue October – Pink November – Yellow (alternative: Orange) December – Blue |
2. Official Birthstone List
A lot of sites give different information as to what are the true birthstones. But according to the American Gem Trade Association, here are the “official” gems for you to pick from, the ones most commonly found in ancient and modern traditions.
Official Birthstones
3. Traditional Birthstones By Month
These stones tend to be the ones based most commonly in ancient cultures and traditions.
Traditional Birthstone List
4. Modern Birthstones By Month
These birthstones are based on more current trends in the modern world.
Modern Birthstone List
5. Zodiac Birthstones
Zodiac birthstones are based on astrology. You’ll see any number of different zodiac stone lists all over the web. Why? Every culture in every century has its own “expert” astrologers. So you may still see some reliable lists out there with different info based on different civilizations.
This list, however, seems to be the most commonly referenced list in the history books and birthstone charts.
Zodiac Birthstone List
| Aquarius Birthstone – Garnet Pisces Birthstone – Amethyst Aries Birthstone – Bloodstone Taurus Birthstone – Sapphire Gemini Birthstone – Agate Cancer Birthstone – Emerald | Leo Birthstone – Onyx Virgo Birthstone – Carnelian Libra Birthstone – Peridot (a.k.a. Chrysolite) Scorpio Birthstone – Aquamarine (a.k.a. Beryl) Sagittarius Birthstone – Topaz Capricorn Birthstone – Ruby |
See Curious Lore of Precious Stones, Kunz, pg. 343
6. Birthstones By Day Of The Week
These are known as “birthday stones” – birthstones based on the day you were born, not the month you were born.
Most people choose from the monthly birthstone lists above. But if you’re like me and you have an aversion to the stones picked out for you, try out this list to see if one tickles your fancy.
NOTE: To see what day of the week someone was born, you can look up their birth date with this simple little day-of-the-week calculator.
Birthday Stone List
| Monday – Pearl Tuesday – Ruby Wednesday – Amethyst Thursday – Sapphire | Friday – Emerald Saturday – Turquoise Sunday – Topaz |
See Curious Lore of Precious Stones, Kunz, pg. 332-333
7. Birthstone List By Seasons
Here’s another lovely yet less-known list of birthstone names, this time based on your birth season as opposed to your birth month.
Seasonal Birthstones
See Curious Lore of Precious Stones, Kunz, pg. 324-325
SOURCE NOTES:
I checked many, many birthstones, color, and birth flower “experts” when making these birthstone color charts. The most credible experts cited the same sources, which I eventually turned to myself.
Here are links to them if you want to check them out.
1. American Gem Trade Association (AGTA)
They are the experts EVERYONE quotes. The AGTA created the “official” birthstone list back in 1912 to help standardize modern traditions and make birthstone shopping easier for jewelers and buyers alike.
2. The Curious Lore of Precious Stones, by George Kunz
He lists the most comprehensive research on birthstone superstitions and their origins over ancient and modern history. Kind of a dry read at times, but intriguing… and most importantly, reliable!
They have a listing of all the same traditional flowers mentioned in source #2 and modern alternatives with various meanings.
I found this information to be in sync with other flower authorities as well. They include tables showing birth flower traditions from various cultures around the world.
5. Color Wheel Pro
These guys know their colors! I really like their short yet descriptive list of color meanings. (Unfortunately, the page I previously linked to has been retired. For those of you who remain curious, here is the URL of the page via archive.org: https://web.archive.org/web/20210906155502/http://www.color-wheel-pro.com/color-meaning.html.
Up Next: Birthstone Facts & FAQs: How Do I Pick The Best One?
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