Anniversary Gemstones by Year: The Complete Guide

Wedding anniversaries carry their own gemstone tradition, running alongside — and often confused with — the better-known birthstone list (see our birthstones guide for that companion tradition).

The milestone gemstone list

Why some stones repeat

Sapphire, ruby and diamond each appear twice on the list, roughly 30-40 years apart — a deliberate feature, not an inconsistency. The idea is that a couple returning to the same gemstone decades later marks a relationship that has deepened and endured, choosing a finer or larger stone the second time as their means and the relationship have both grown.

Lists vary — this is the widely-used version

Unlike birthstones, which trace to a single 1912 standardisation, anniversary gemstone lists were never formally unified by one body, and different jewellers and regions cite slightly different stones for some of the less common milestone years (particularly 35th and 55th). The milestones above — 5th, 10th, 15th, 20th, 25th, 30th, 40th, 45th, 50th and 60th — are the ones most consistently agreed across sources; treat any list for the less common in-between years as a loose guideline rather than a fixed rule.

Choosing a stone for the milestone

For the gemstone years (5th, 10th, 15th, 20th, 40th, 45th, 55th, 60th), the honest buying advice doesn't change from any other purchase of that stone: see our guides to how gemstones are priced and gemstone treatments for what actually drives value and what to ask about before you buy, regardless of the occasion.

Related reading

• Birthstones by month: the complete guide
• How gemstones are priced
• Non-diamond engagement rings guide

Source: milestone anniversary gemstone tradition as commonly cited across major US jewellery-trade guides (Angara, Jewelers of America-aligned sources); lists for uncommon years flagged as variable per the guidance above.