Ask most people what the August birthstone is, and they'll say peridot (that vivid, lime-green stone that looks a little like sunlight caught in glass) without blinking. But August actually claims three birthstones: peridot, spinel, and sardonyx, which makes it one of only a handful of months that gets more than one.

For August birthdays, that range is a gift in itself. A peridot ring for someone who wants something bright and easy to wear daily. A sardonyx pendant for someone drawn to history and texture. A spinel piece for someone who wants a stone their friends will ask about.

What is the August birthstone?

Peridot is the official modern birthstone for August. It's the one recognized by Jewelers of America and the one you'll see stocked in nearly every fine jewelry collection built around birth months, including ours. Spinel sits alongside it as a modern alternative, added in 2016 by the American Gem Trade Association and Jewelers of America, partly to give the stone the recognition collectors felt it had long deserved. Sardonyx is the traditional pick, carried over from older birthstone lists that predate the modern system entirely.

August birthstone meaning & symbolism

Peridot has long been tied to strength and positivity. It's a stone people wore, historically, to protect against nightmares and dark thoughts. Ancient Egyptians believed it carried the sun's own light. Whether or not you buy into that, there's something fitting about a lime-green stone standing in for growth and renewal. It looks like new leaves. And kind of looks like a fresh start, too.

Spinel's meaning runs a little deeper, and it gets underused as a gifting story. It's associated with revitalization; with coming back from a period of exhaustion, resentment, or emotional flatness, and finding your footing again. Give a spinel piece to someone starting over after a hard year, and the meaning does some of the talking for you.

Sardonyx carries the oldest weight of the three. Roman soldiers wore it engraved with images of Mars before battle, believing it lent them courage. Orators wore it to speak with more clarity and conviction. Over time, that settled into a broader symbolism: courage, happiness, and honest communication (useful qualities for anyone, birthday or not).

What ties all three together isn't a shared color or a shared origin story. It's that each one, in its own way, represents moving forward. For a month that sits right at the edge of a season change, that thread feels appropriate.

What color is the August birthstone?

Peridot's color doesn't really have competition in the gem world. That specific lime-to-olive green is practically its signature. Iron is the reason. The more iron present in the crystal structure, the deeper the green; lower iron content pulls it toward a lighter, more yellow-green shade. Most fine peridot lands somewhere in the middle: vivid, slightly warm, unmistakably itself in any light.

Spinel doesn't play by the same rules. It spans red, pink, blue, and purple, with a rare cobalt shade that collectors chase specifically. Red spinel is the most historically significant (it's the color responsible for centuries of mistaken identity with ruby) but pink and blue spinel have both built serious followings of their own in recent years.

Sardonyx looks like neither. It's a banded stone, alternating stripes of reddish-brown sard and white or black onyx, which gives it a layered, almost hand-painted appearance no faceted gem can replicate. No two sardonyx stones band identically.

Color drives value differently for each stone. Peridot is priced on saturation, so the richer the green, the higher the cost per carat. Rarity of hue drives spinel's value instead, with vivid reds and blues commanding the biggest premiums. Sardonyx comes down to contrast: the sharper and more defined the banding, the more desirable the stone.

The history of August birthstones

Peridot's history goes back roughly 3,500 years, mined by the ancient Egyptians on a small island in the Red Sea called Topazios (known today as Zabargad, or St. John's Island). The Egyptians called it the gem of the sun and reportedly mined it at night, believing the stone glowed faintly and was easier to spot once daylight had faded.

Some of Cleopatra's famous emerald jewelry is now believed to have actually been peridot.

And in one of the stranger footnotes in gemology, peridot is also one of the only gems found in meteorites (pallasites that fell from space carrying olivine crystals formed nowhere near this planet).

The history of sardonyx runs in a completely different direction. Roman and Greek soldiers carved it into seals and signet rings, prized partly because hot wax doesn't stick to the stone's surface (practical, not just symbolic). Roman women wore sardonyx cameos of Venus; soldiers carried talismans engraved with Mars into battle. The tradition of cameo carving that sardonyx made possible carried straight through the Renaissance.

Spinel's story is the weirdest of the three. For centuries, red spinel was mistaken for ruby, appearing in royal collections under someone else's name. The Black Prince's Ruby, set into the British Imperial State Crown, is actually a 170-carat red spinel, and it's not the only one. The Timur Ruby, also in the Royal Collection, is spinel as well. It wasn't until 1783 that mineralogists confirmed spinel as its own distinct gem, separate from corundum entirely. That reclassification, in a strange way, is why spinel eventually earned its own spot as an official birthstone (233 years later, in 2016).

August birthstone facts

Peridot sits at 6.5 to 7 on the Mohs hardness scale, so it's durable enough for daily wear, but soft enough that it deserves a little more care than a diamond or sapphire. It's a member of the olivine mineral family, colored by its iron content, and most of the peridot on the market today comes from Pakistan, Arizona's San Carlos Apache Reservation, China, or Egypt, with Arizona alone responsible for a significant share of global supply.

Spinel, at 8 on the Mohs scale, is noticeably tougher (closer to sapphire than to peridot in daily wearability). That durability, paired with its wide color range and centuries of royal-jewel history, is a big part of why the trade has spent the last decade actively rehabilitating spinel's reputation.

A few specifics: peridot is one of very few gemstones that forms in a narrow range of colors rather than dozens, which is unusual for a fine gem. Sardonyx, unlike most banded agates, is defined specifically by straight, parallel bands rather than the curved rings you'd see in standard agate. And natural spinel has no cheaper synthetic history muddying its reputation (lab-created spinel exists, but it's always been sold as exactly that).

August birthstone jewelry ideas

A peridot ring is the obvious starting point, and really, it's obvious for good reason. The Peri Ring pairs a vivid natural peridot with pavé diamonds in 14k gold, and it makes a real statement. For necklaces, our Trillion Peridot Necklace sets a hand-picked peridot alongside diamonds, which is a unique piece built specifically with August birthdays in mind.

Our Starry Birthstone Ring lets you set a birthstone (peridot included) into our signature floating diamond setting, which makes it a natural choice for anniversary gifts, push presents, or a treat after a milestone year. Studs are the easiest entry point if someone's new to colored stones, and our Peridot Birthstone Studs in 14k gold are simple enough for daily wear and distinctive enough to notice.

You can browse the full August birthstone collection here.

How to care for August birthstone jewelry

Peridot asks for a little more gentleness than other stones in your jewelry box. Warm water, a mild soap, a soft cloth, and that's it. Skip the ultrasonic cleaner, skip steam, and try to avoid sudden temperature changes, like going straight from a hot shower into cold air, which can stress the stone over time.

Spinel is more forgiving, thanks to that 8 on the Mohs scale. It holds up well to daily wear and standard cleaning without much fuss. Sardonyx sits in between: durable enough for regular wear, but it should still be cleaned with warm soapy water rather than anything abrasive or acidic.

Store each piece separately, ideally in a fabric-lined box or a soft pouch, so nothing scratches against anything else. And take rings off before the pool, as chlorine isn't kind to prong settings or to peridot's surface, no matter how careful you are. Care for it properly, and a piece like this outlasts trends entirely. It's built to endure, the way an heirloom should.

August birthstone frequently asked questions

What is the August birthstone?

Peridot is the official modern birthstone for August. Spinel is a modern alternative, added to the list in 2016, and sardonyx is the traditional stone associated with the month. All three are recognized choices for August birthdays.

Why does August have three birthstones?

Because August's traditional birthstone, sardonyx, never fully lost its following even after peridot became the modern standard in 1912. Spinel joined both in 2016, when the American Gem Trade Association and Jewelers of America gave it official birthstone status.

What does peridot symbolize?

Peridot is associated with strength, positivity, and growth. Ancient Egyptians believed it protected against nightmares and carried the light of the sun, and that sense of renewal has stuck with the stone ever since.

What color is the August birthstone?

Peridot, the primary August birthstone, is a lime-to-olive green caused by iron in its crystal structure. Spinel spans red, pink, blue, and purple. Sardonyx is banded in reddish-brown and white or black.

Can peridot be worn every day?

Yes, with a bit of care. At 6.5 to 7 on the Mohs scale, peridot is durable enough for daily wear in a well-made setting, though it's worth avoiding ultrasonic cleaners, harsh chemicals, and sharp temperature changes.

Where is peridot found?

Most peridot on the market comes from Pakistan, Arizona's San Carlos Apache Reservation, China, and Egypt. A small amount is even extraterrestrial, found in meteorites known as pallasites.

What zodiac signs are associated with August birthstones?

August is the month of Leo and Virgo, and both peridot and sardonyx are traditionally linked to Leo in most folklore-based zodiac charts, though these associations vary quite a bit by source and were never as formally standardized as the modern birthstone list.