Both are birthstones of December. (It depends on which tradition you’re following!) They span a surprising range of colors you can pick from to brighten someone’s short solstice days!
Chrysoprase, a.k.a. Australian jade, has long been associated with magical powers, from invisibility to being able to understand lizards, not to mention generally balancing one’s mental and emotional state. It comes in colors from shampoo-green to tan-veined to lemony. The latter (lemon chrysoprase) is by far the most often available from Rings & Things. You can find this stone in a variety of pleasing bead shapes, from nuggety chips 
to cubes, 
and from rounds
to donuts. 
Turquoise needs little introduction. Here at Rings & Things we carry several types of turquoise at reasonable prices. Let’s just take a short tour through a few of these varieties. There’s Kingman (Arizona) heishi,
African turquoise crosses, 
carved Chinese “double joy” beads,
and (I think literally) tons more in our warehouse. You’ll have a fine time browsing these under “turquoise” in the Gemstone Beads section of our online store!
P.S.: we don’t carry much ruby or sapphire, two other traditional December birthstones, but here’s a tip. Go to our store (the “Our Products” section of our site), and search for either of these stone names. You’ll be brought to a vast selection of beads that aren’t made of gemstone, but which match these colors. For example, there are some great ruby-colored resin beads and sapphire-colored Swarovski crystals. Warning: Some of these hues complement each other very nicely. You might find yourself inspired to combine the various December birthstones into a single design!
Thanks once again to Bruce G. Knuth for his great book “Jeweler’s Resource: A Reference of Gems, Metals, Formulas and Terminology for Jewelers“, which provided some of the information above. Check it out, it’s a staff favorite at Rings & Things!
On a completely unrelated note, I can’t resist slipping in this impromptu Christmas tree put together by one of our staff on a coffee break. Hope you enjoy the lighthearted use of Rings & Things stock! (Can you spot each item?)
Happy holidays!
