Date of Issue : 2 January 2012
The German Post has issued a beautiful set of 3 stamps on 2 January 2012 featuring precious stones namely Ruby Sapphire and and Emerald. With this issue German Post celebrates the new 2012 year . These stamps are surcharged with extra amount and are being sold as welfare stamps in favor of voluntary welfare.
The term "precious stone" has been always associated to the idea of something precious, unique, mysterious, mystical and imperishable. Each natural stone is unique by its color, clarity, cut, brilliance, weight and rarity.
A gemstone or gem (also called a precious or semi-precious stone, a fine gem, or jewel) is a piece of mineral, which, in cut and polished form, is used to make jewelry or other adornments. However certain rocks, (such as lapis lazuli) and organic materials (such as amber or jet) are not minerals, but are still used for jewelry, and are therefore often considered to be gemstones as well. Most gemstones are hard, but some soft minerals are used in jewelry because of their lustre or other physical properties that have aesthetic value. Rarity is another characteristic that lends value to a gemstone. Apart from jewelry, from earliest antiquity until the 19th century engraved gems and hardstone carvings such as cups were major luxury art forms.
Ruby
Rubies have always been held in high esteem in Asian countries. They were used to ornament armor, scabbards, and harnesses of noblemen in India and China. Rubies were laid beneath the foundation of buildings to secure good fortune to the structure.
Ruby is the red diversity of the mineral corundum, one of the sturdiest minerals on globe, . Pure corundum is colorless. Slender traces of rudiments such as chrome, iron, titanium or vanadium are dependable for the color. These precious stones have brilliant hardness. On the Mohs scale their score of 9 is 2nd when compared to that of the diamond. Only red corundum is permitted to be christened ruby, all other colors being classified as sapphires. The close association edged by the ruby and the sapphire has only been acknowledged since the commencement of the 19th century.
Ruby is the birthstone associated with July and of the zodiac sign Leo. Ruby is associated with the sun in Vedic astrology.Ruby is associated with a 40th wedding anniversary.
Sapphire
The sapphire symbolizes trustworthiness, but at the similar time it gives turn of phrase to people's feel affection for and longing. Perhaps the mainly prominent instance of this blue is to be established in music, in George Gershwin's "Rhapsody in Blue". And the blue of the sapphire still appears where not anything at all counts apart from clear-sightedness and determined cerebral attempt.
In previous times, some people are supposed that the firmament was a colossal blue sapphire in which the globe was entrenched. Blue is the chief color of the sapphire. Blue is also the favorite color of some 50 per cent of all populace, men and women comparable. It is correlated with feelings of understanding and concord, friendship and loyalty.
Emerald
Emeralds are a assortment of the mineral beryl that is tinted green by the presence of traces of varying amounts of chromium and from time to time vanadium. Beryl carries along the hardness of 7.5 - 8 on the 10 point Mohs test scale of material hardness. Most emeralds are exceedingly concealed with other varying minerals, so their daintiness (resistance to breakage) is termed as commonly poor. The beginning of the word "emerald" is described to be formed from a Sanskrit expression that means "green". Emeralds come in several tints of green and vary up to bluish green. There is an extensive variety of transparency, reliant on the contents and fractures formed in the crystal.
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