If you are lucky to hold a birthday in June, then you have three beautiful birthstones to enhance your celebration. The lustrous pearl is the oldest of the gemstones and the only gem born and nurtured by the sea. The Roman Empire found them to be a favorite, and the 1500s Tudor England era was also referred to as the pearl age. In Greek Mythology, pearls are known as tears of joy formed by the goddess Aphrodite.

A modern-day addition to June's Birthstones is Alexandrite. It was discovered in 1831 by Czar Alexander II. Alexandrite's allure is that it has unique color-changing qualities. In natural light, it is a lovely green and can change to a purplish red color in incandescent light. An extremely rare gemstone and can become quite expensive, so many jewelers prefer to offer the synthetic human-made version that still captures the chemical and optical properties as the natural stone.