Bloodstone

Bloodstone is a green chalcedony that has iron oxide inclusions, thus, deriving its name from the red speckles found in the stone. Unfortunately, bloodstone is also opaque, but its surface can take on a high polished making it suitable for crafting. This means its primary use is for engraving and is a favorite for cameos. Large quantities of bloodstone can be found in Siberia, India, Tartary, Bokhara, and the Hebrides. Heliotrope, a quartz crystalline, is also known as bloodstone, the heliotrope also is found in green chalcedony as crimson spots; however, the difference of the two being the heliotrope is translucent.

Bloodstone was properly worn on the thumb in the shape of a heart because its touch was thought to stop bleeding — the thumb being under the influence of Aries. An anonymous source wrote, “Who on this world of ours his eyes in Aries opens shall be wise if always on his hand there lies a Bloodstone.” Red is known as the sign’s lucky color. The belief in the curative quality of bloodstone to stop hemorrhages originated from the Latin similia similibus curantur which was an analogy linking the gem’s color and infirmity’s character to be cured. Luca Signorelli (1439-1521) was said to carry a bloodstone amulet in his pocket that cured Giorgio Vasari (1514-1578) in the church at Arezzo. The legends associated with this stone were a part of the Renaissance period and beyond. The royal seal of James II is made of bloodstone engraved with the motto “HONI SOIT OUI MAL Y PENSE”, meaning “evil to him who thinks evil”.

Robert Boyle, in 1675, recorded an ancient gentlewoman‘s cure for a bleeding nose which was done by hanging a pigeon's egg carved of bloodstone around the neck. When he spoke with the patient about it, Robert Boyle’s reaction was the following, “And when I seem'd to suspect that imagination might have an interest in the efficacy of this Remedy, he answer’d, that he was very well satisfied of the negative.” The patient was sure of the bloodstone’s effect. One can draw a conclusion by this account, the egg-shaped bloodstone itself upon inspection by the doctor looked like another species of gem. He doubted it was the bloodstone. His book was titled, "The Origin And Virtues Of Gems". Charles W. King says the heliotrope with the engraving of a bat gave the wearer by its touch a power over demons, while hematite offered preservation against the formation of bladder stones; when ground into a powder and mixed with honey, water, or wine.

  • Robert Boyle was an inventor, chemist, physicist, and natural philosopher. His best known work in chemistry is known as Boyle’s Law describing the inversely proportional relationship of volume and pressure in gas. His book, Origin and Virtue of Gems, was published in 1672.

  • Charles William King was a British writer and Victorian gem expert. His collection of engraved gems was presented to the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, in 1881 as the result of his failing eyesight.