August brings the end of summer, the Minnesota State Fair, the supposed last month to wear white. It also brings us the juicy vibrant peridot birthstone, along with the versatile and lesser known spinel. Many of us may be familiar with the bright green stone that comes in a whole host of food inspired hues from olive green, to pear or bright lime. For fans of the color green, peridot has a lot to offer. The stone is traditionally mined in South Asia, but can also be found in meteorites and are called extraterrestrial crystals! Spinel is a gem that for many years went incorrectly identified as ruby due to its almost indistinguishable similarity to the much more well known red stone. Spinel was only given its own classification in 1783 centuries after the first spinel had been discovered. Though it is best known in its ruby-like color, spinel also comes in an array of colors including blue, black, pink and more. Should the green of peridot not be your color, you can look to spinel and its variety of colors to show off your birthstone your way!
