The exact identities of all the stones on the high-priest's breastplate are not known. Those shown below are only some of the possibilities mentioned in Jewish source materiel (itself based to some extent on speculation).
At first we may tend to think of the breastplate in terms of modern jewellery, set with sparkling "precious stones"; however we must not forget that tastes, availability, and relative prices have changed greatly since biblical times, and that stones we today call "semi-precious" and consider less prestigious, such as Lapis Lazuli, Carnelian and Turquoise, were the stones chosen to be inlaid in the gold icons of Tutankhamen - for example - rather than sapphires, rubies and emeralds.
Click on the picture below to seea legible version.
Notes:
1) I have arranged the rows from right to left - the "Hebrew" way.
2) I have put Yissachar and Zevulun immediately after their full brothers, rather than in strict chronological order (following Asher). This is also a matter of dispute.
3) I have included Dalmatian Jasper and Moss Agate as a matter of interest, because scientifically they are considered the "same" as red jasper and blue agate respectively; however it is unlikely that they would be considered the same stone for the purposes of the breastplate, where color and appearance determined the choice of stone (as is clear from their Hebrew names).
