Tourmaline: a dazzling array of colors… it can shock you (literally)

October has two birth stone options… Pink Tourmaline and Opal

Tourmaline-

Tourmaline’s name means multi-colored, and rightfully so. These October birthstones come in every color of the rainbow, and even bi and tri-colored, where two or more colors appear together in the same gemstone. No two tourmalines are exactly alike. Tourmalines are believed to be a compassion fostering stone, also bringing composure and enlightenment, to those who wear it.

A deposit of tourmaline was found on Mt. Mica in Maine by two men who just happened to see a green crystal at the base of an uprooted tree, who didn’t know what it was. None of the locals could identify it, so it was sent to Yale University, where it was identified as tourmaline. Tourmaline was the first gem to be mined in such abundance in post-native North America. Mt. Mica tourmalines are particularly noted for their distinct green color resembling Granny Smith Apples.

Tourmaline’s many Varieties:

- Maine Tourmaline- Granny Smith green

- Watermelon Tourmaline- a bi-color stone containing green and pink tourmaline side by side.

- Rubelite- intense red color that stays the same color in both artificial and natural light.

- Paraíba Tourmaline- wasn’t discovered until 1987, commonly a bright blue to blue-green tourmaline

Tourmaline offers an enticing rainbow of options for your jewelry wardrobe. Cranberry red, hot magenta, bubblegum pink, peach and orange, canary yellow, mint, grass and forest green, ocean blue, violet, and even bicolor pink and green stones: tourmaline is all these and more.

Tourmaline

Folklore/Myths & Facts:

According to ancient Egyptians, tourmaline, on its way up from the center of the earth passed over a rainbow. In doing so, it acquired all the colors.

The Empress Dowager Tz’u Hsi, the last empress of China, loved pink tourmaline above all other gemstones. She imported tons of tourmaline from Southern California in the early twentieth century, creating a gem rush in San Diego during the period.

It is believed that tourmaline protects its wearer from many dangers, such as falling.

Scientists are as interested in tourmalines as designers are. It’s peculiar that tourmaline can become electrically charged when rapidly heated and cooled. Even more peculiar is that when electrically charged, they will demonstrate pyro-electricity (i.e. having opposite charges at either end of the stone). This property has also made tourmaline the latest miracle ingredient in moisturizers: manufacturers claim the gem helps pull pollutants from your skin.

The Dutch were the first to bring tourmaline to Europe. Well aware of its heat conductivity, they would use a heated piece of tourmaline to heat their meerschaum pipes.

How to Care for Tourmaline:

Tourmaline is durable and suitable for everyday wear. Clean with mild dish soap: use a toothbrush to scrub behind the stone where dust can collect.

Opals Play of Color

Opals

The name means to see a change of color; opals have an unusual optical effect of shifting spectral hues described as play of color. The birthstone for October, opal is revered as a symbol of hope, fidelity and purity and reveals the colorful attributes of those who wear it.

Opals are a chameleon of stones, encompassing the essence of every gemstone in one and date back to prehistoric times.

Opals are described according to their transparency and body color. While experts divide gem opals into many different categories, the main types (according to the American Gem Trade Association) are:

• White opal – translucent to semi-translucent with play-of-color against a white or light gray body color.
• Black opal – translucent to opaque with play-of-color against a black or other dark body color.
• Fire Opal – transparent to translucent with brown, yellow, orange, or red body color. This material, which often does not show play-of-color, is also known as “Mexican opal,” “gold opal,” or “sun opal.”

Play-of-color occurs because opal is made up of sub-microscopic spheres stacked in a grid-like pattern, like layers of ping-pong balls in a box. This structure breaks up light into spectral colors. The colors you see depend on the sizes of the spheres. Opal is a non-crystallized silica, which is a mineral found near the earth’s surface in areas where ancient geothermal hot springs once existed. As the hot springs dried up, layers of the silica, combined with water, were deposited into the cracks and cavities of the bedrock, forming Opal.

Opal Peacock Brooch on display at the Smithsonian

Because opal contains varying amounts of water, it is a soft stone and if exposed to changes in heat and pressure, the appearance can change. When water evaporates out of an opal, the stone can appear to be slightly smaller and the stress

Opal is a soft stone, easily altered in appearance by changes in heat and pressure. This mineral contains varying amounts of water within it that determine the appearance of the gemstone. When water evaporates out of an opal, the stone appears slightly smaller and the stress of the evaporation creates cracks on it.

Folklore:

Prized for its unique ability to refract and reflect specific wavelengths of light, the Opal was also called “Cupid Paederos” by the Romans, meaning a child beautiful as love.

Arabic legends say it falls from the heavens in flashes of lightning. The ancient Greeks believed opals gave their owners the gift of prophecy and guarded them from disease. Europeans have long considered the gem a symbol of hope, purity, and truth.

Some people think it’s unlucky for anyone born in another month to wear an opal, but that particular superstition comes from a novel written in the 1800s (Anne of Geierstein by Sir Walter Scott) and not from ancient belief or experience. In fact, throughout most of history, opal has been regarded as the luckiest and most magical of all gems because it can show all colors. Once, it was thought to have the power to preserve the life and color of blond hair.