May's Birthstone - Renew Yourself with Emeralds Emeralds are fascinating gemstones. They have the most beautiful, most intense and most radiant green that can possibly be imagined: emerald green. In top quality, fine emeralds are even more valuable than diamonds. As the birthstone for May, the emerald, a symbol of rebirth, is believed to grant the owner foresight, good fortune, and youth. The name emerald comes from the Greek 'smaragdos' via the Old French 'esmeralde', and really just means 'green gemstone'. Innumerable fantastic stories have grown up around this magnificent gem. The Incas and Aztecs of South America, where the best emeralds are still found today, regarded the emerald as a holy gemstone. But, probably the oldest known finds were once made near the Red Sea in Egypt. These gemstone mines, said to be used by Egyptian pharaohs between 3000 and 1500 B.C. were later called 'Cleopatra's Mines' and they were exhausted