Opal or Tourmaline - October Birthstones
The opal is often considered to be the most beautiful and desirable
of all gems because it is highlighted with all the colors of the
rainbow.
According to legend, the wearer of an opal will be
urbane and courteous and protected from the wrath of others. The
stone was also reputed to make its owner invisible to foes and thereby
exempt from misfortune. Opals were supposed to drive away despondency
and evil thoughts, cure kidney diseases and cholera, soothe the
eyes and nerves and protect against lightning. It was believed to
make wishes come true and was particularly favorable to children,
the theater, amusements, friendships and emotions. it is the gem
of inspiration in the arts and in love.
The opal was regarded as a means to clairvoyance,
one far more effective than the traditional crystal ball.
The word opal is derived from the Latin opulus and
the sanskrit upala, meaning "precious stone" and was one
of those in the breastplate of Aaron. It was the lucky stone of
the Romans who called it cupid paederos, which meant "child
beautiful as love," and who revered it as the symbol of hope
and purity.
Pliny described the opal as possessing "the fire
of the carbuncle, the brilliant purple of the amethyst, and the
sea-green color of the emerald, all shining together in incredible
union." The Arabs believed that opals fell from heaven in flashes
of lightning and thus acquired their colors. In ancient Greece opals
were supposed to confer foresight and prophecy on their owners.
Black opal has been regarded as an exceptionally lucky
stone and in early times was made artificially by dipping light-colored
stones into ink or by allowing burned oil to enter cracks produced
by heating.
Blondes are supposed to have a special fondness for
opal necklaces which were believed to guard the color of their hair!
Opals have been worn by many well-known figures. Queen
Victoria was especially proud of her opal collection and gave a
magnificent opal to each of her five daughters as mementos. Sarah
Bernhardt, the famous French actress, whose birthstone was the opal,
never considered herself well-dressed without her opal jewelry.
This added enormously to it popularity. The Roman senator Nonius
chose exile rather than sell his beloved opal ring to Mark Antony'
the ring was found in Nonius' tomb.
As the birthstone for October, the opal stands for
hope.
Although tourmaline, the alternate birthstone for
October, was probably known to the ancients and must have been present
in many of the Oriental mines yielding precious stones, there are
no definitive descriptions of the gem by early writers.
During the seventeenth century, dark green tourmaline
crystals shipped to Europe from Brazil were called Brazilian emeralds
and incorrectly credited with a hardness greater than that of true
emeralds. However, early in the eighteenth century it was discovered
that these crystals had a unique property. One warm summer day,
while some Dutch children were playing with stones that had been
brought home by navigators, they were amazed to see that the stones
attracted small bits of ash and pieces of paper. The children's
parents, summoned to view the phenomenon, were astounded at the
magnetic properties of these stones, which were later given the
name, aschentrckers, meaning "ash drawers."
The word tourmaline however is derived from the ancient
Singhalese word tormall, meaning "mixed precious stones."
The tourmaline is a complex silicate combined with various metallic
elements; since each contributes a different color, the observer
is often confused into believing the gem is a ruby, emerald or sapphire.
The most valuable variety of tourmaline is red to
purplish-red to violet-red. it comes in an infinite variety of hues
and tones. Most common are green and light red tourmalines, but
others are dual-colored stones in blue, yellow and pink, brown and
black. Some stones show several colors; they may be one color at
the base, another at the center and a third near the apex. In others,
the interior portion will be one color and the peripheral zone another.
When the central portion is pink and the periphery green, the resulting
combination is called a "watermelon" tourmaline. Cat's-eye
tourmalines also are found in a variety of colors.
Brazil is still the most important source of tourmaline,
but recently California has become a significant producer. Other
sources include Madagascar, Maine, Sri Lanka, Burma and Russia.
Tourmaline may be cut into any style, including step,
brilliant, mixed and cabochon. It is often carved into flowers,
leaves and similar forms and set in jewelry with diamonds and other
colored stones.
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