What is an anniversary stone?

An anniversary stone is the gemstone linked to a particular wedding year. Reach your fifth anniversary and the stone is sapphire; your tenth, a diamond; your fortieth, a ruby. Each year of marriage gets a material, and the stones climb in durability and rarity roughly in step with the length of the marriage.

The list is a tradition, not a rule from one authority. Birthstones have an official calendar; anniversary stones do not. The version most North American jewellers use started as a gift guide in the 1930s and was filled out over the decades by the trade, as the International Gem Society lays out. That is why two different stones sometimes get quoted for the same year.

The complete anniversary stone list, year by year

Here is every anniversary from the first year through the sixtieth, with a photo of each stone. Where a modern gemstone version differs from the traditional one, both are shown. Type a year or a stone in the search box to jump straight to it, or tap any linked year for its full guide.

Traditional column follows the International Gem Society anniversary list; the modern column reflects the gemstone list from fine jeweller Angara. Highlighted rows are the ten milestones; linked years open a full guide. Mohs figures are the standard hardness range for daily-wear planning.

Stone	Anniversary	Traditional	Modern gemstone	Everyday wear
	1 1st	Gold (jewellery)	Peridot	—
	2 2nd	Garnet	Garnet	Mohs 6.5–7.5
	3 3rd	Pearl	Pearl	Soft — pendants & earrings
	4 4th	Blue topaz	Blue topaz	Mohs 8
	5 5th	Sapphire	Sapphire	Mohs 9 — great daily wear
	6 6th	Amethyst	Amethyst	Mohs 7
	7 7th	Yellow sapphire	Onyx	Mohs 9
	8 8th	Tourmaline	Tourmaline / tanzanite	Mohs 7–7.5
	9 9th	Morganite	Amethyst	Mohs 7.5–8
	10 10th	Diamond	Diamond	Mohs 10 — first big milestone
	11 11th	Turquoise	Citrine	Soft (5–6)
	12 12th	Alexandrite	Opal	Colour-change gem
	13 13th	Citrine	Citrine	Mohs 7
	14 14th	Opal	Opal	Soft, water-sensitive
	15 15th	Ruby	Ruby	Mohs 9
	16 16th	Peridot	Peridot	Mohs 6.5–7
	17 17th	Watches (gift)	Pink tourmaline	—
	18 18th	Cat’s-eye	Aquamarine	—
	19 19th	Aquamarine	Aquamarine	Mohs 7.5–8
	20 20th	Emerald	Emerald	Mohs 7.5–8, brittle
	21 21st	Iolite	Opal	—
	22 22nd	Spinel	Spinel	Mohs 8
	23 23rd	Imperial topaz	Imperial topaz	—
	24 24th	Tanzanite	Tanzanite	Soft (6–7)
	25 25th	Silver jubilee	Diamond / tsavorite	Silver milestone
	30 30th	Pearl jubilee	Pearl	Soft
	35 35th	Emerald	Emerald	—
	40 40th	Ruby jubilee	Ruby	Mohs 9
	45 45th	Sapphire	Sapphire	Mohs 9
	50 50th	Golden jubilee	Golden gems / diamond	Gold milestone
	55 55th	Emerald / alexandrite	Emerald	—
	60 60th	Diamond jubilee	Diamond	Mohs 10

No anniversary matches that search. Try a year number (like 20) or a stone name (like emerald).

Traditional list versus the modern gemstone list

Two lists are in circulation and they do not always agree. The older, traditional list leans on metals and classic stones — gold for year one, turquoise for eleven, silver for twenty-five. Newer gemstone lists, like the one Angara publishes, put a stone on nearly every year: peridot for the first, citrine for the eleventh, a diamond for the twenty-fifth.

Neither is wrong. If you are buying a gift and want to play it safe, the years almost everyone agrees on are the fifth (sapphire), tenth (diamond), fifteenth (ruby), twentieth (emerald), thirtieth (pearl) and fortieth (ruby). Those are the ones worth building a piece around without second-guessing.

Pick a stone that survives the years ahead

Tradition is a starting point, not the whole decision. A ring worn every day has to survive hands, work and habits. On the Mohs hardness scale, diamond sits at 10 and sapphire and ruby at 9 — those take daily wear without complaint. Emerald (7.5–8) is hard but brittle, so it wants a protective setting. Pearl (2.5–4.5), opal and turquoise are soft and often water-sensitive, which is why they make better earrings and pendants than everyday rings.

If the correct stone for your year is a soft one, you have two good options: wear it somewhere protected, or choose a harder stone in the right colour and keep the tradition symbolic. For the full picture on any stone, see our gemstone guide; if a birthday is also in play, our birthstones by month guide sits alongside this one.

What we can make for you in Coquitlam

The point of an anniversary stone is a piece someone actually wears. At our Coquitlam studio we design and build in-house, so we can source the stone for your year, reset a gem you already own, or design a new ring, pendant or pair of earrings around it. Milestone years like the 25th and 50th are also a natural moment to remake rings worn thin over the decades — see our heirloom redesign guide, or browse bespoke anniversary pieces we have made.

Frequently asked questions