August offers a very interesting choice to the natives of the month: peridot or spinel.
Peridot, known for its brilliant lime green glow, is the rare gem-quality variety of the common mineral olivine, which forms deep inside the Earth’s mantle and is brought to the surface by volcanoes. Rarely, peridot is also found inside meteorites.
The spinel is often assumed to be other gemstones because it tends to resemble a ruby, a sapphire or an onyx. In fact, some of the most famous rubies in history have turned out to be spinel.
