Alexandrite is the birthstone for the month of June (along with the pearl) and the Anniversary stone for the 55th year of marriage. It is also considered Friday’s stone, or the stone of “Friday's Child.” It is an extremely rare gemstone and a fairly modern one to boot. It does not share the ancient history and lore of most other gems due to the fact that it was first discovered in the 19th Century. The name Alexandrite comes from the fact that the gemstone was first discovered in the emerald mines near the Tokovaya River in Russia’s Ural Mountains in 1830, on the day of Prince Alexander II of Russia’s birthday. The story of the stone’s discovery goes like this: Miners were working alone in the mountains one day, collecting emeralds. One miner gathered some stones, which looked like emeralds and took them back to the camp at the end of the day. But in the light of the campfire, the stones shone a brilliant shade of red! The miners were perplexed. When morning came and they saw that the stones were green again in the light, they realized that they had found a new and mysterious gem.