Birthstone by month: which stone is which month, and a birthstone necklace for each
Our birthstones by month chart and the stone menu on our starburst heart pendant set agree on one stone for each month, the twelve in the table below with how many pieces here carry each. That heart takes any month's stone, so every month has at least one piece to choose.
September runs deepest: 59 pieces, from tennis chains and crosses to flower and heart necklaces, and half of the pieces sold in the year. For more, sapphire necklaces has 90 live pieces. October's opals, three crosses, a tennis chain and an opal and diamond chain, sit with the rest of the opal pieces on opal necklaces and pendants. Ruby, pearl, topaz and emerald have 8 to 11 pieces each, and emerald sold the most after sapphire, 37 pieces, most of them the 10K gold lion.
March, April, August and December are thin, with two or three pieces each, the starburst heart among them. For one of those months, start with the heart or ask the live chat; the desk also takes texts at 212-872-9692 from 10 AM ET.
Pendant or necklace: a birthstone pendant alone, or a birthstone necklace with its chain
Check the title and the length menu first. Of the 117 pieces, 38 are a pendant on its own, mostly crosses, with no chain length to pick: plan a chain. The other 79 come on their chain: 33 necklaces, 27 chains, 23 of them tennis chains with a full row of stones, and 19 pendant sets, 13 of them with a length menu running 18 to 24 inches.
Pendants on their own were 109 of the 206 pieces sold, and the middle one weighs 5.9 grams. By our rule of thumb, a pendant under about 10 grams rides a solid link of 2.5 to 4 mm; the table is in which chain for a pendant. At 18 inches a pendant rests at the collarbone, and at 20 it clears a crew neck; the other lengths are in the necklace length chart.
Natural or lab-grown: real birthstones, lab-made stones and cultured pearls
Most listings here do not say whether the colored stone was mined or grown, more than 100 of the 116 that carry one, so if it matters, ask before you pay: the live chat first, or a text on 212-872-9692 from 10 AM ET. Four say natural: the ruby heart necklace, a blue sapphire tennis chain and the two gold bead necklaces. The rose pearl chain is strung with cultured pearls, and the ice cream cone pendant holds a freshwater pearl.
Where diamonds sit beside the stone, most listings print natural, while the two starburst hearts and the alexandrite chain say lab-grown in their titles. A stone grown in a lab and one dug from the ground are one mineral, and only a gem lab can tell them apart.
Gold or silver: a 14K gold birthstone necklace or sterling silver
Most are 14K gold, 93 of the 117, and two in three of the pieces sold. Fourteen are sterling silver, all but one of them crosses, so read the metal line on each listing. Six are 10K gold, the emerald lions among them, and four are 18K.
On gold, color is a choice: 80 of the 103 gold pieces come in yellow, white or rose, while the sapphire flower necklaces are mostly yellow alone. Ship a gold piece within the US and our appraisal of its grams comes with it.
Engraving and gifts: an engraved birthstone necklace, made to order, returns
One listing is sold as engravable, the 14K gold birthstone engravable heart, and it has no box for the words, so ask the desk about engraving before you order. An engraved piece is made for one person, and the refund policy treats personalized pieces as final.
Four listings, the three opal crosses and the rose pearl chain, say they are handmade once ordered; ask the desk how long. Anything else can be returned unworn if it reaches us inside 14 calendar days from its delivery, shipped on our return label, unless its listing reads non-returnable; a piece made to order is final.