Home » Fashion & Beauty » Jewelry » Gemstone Jewelry

October Birthstone - Opal

Ranked #9,905 in Fashion & Beauty, #178,365 overall | Donates to Squidoo Charity Fund

Nature's Splendor in a Sphere

Opal and Tourmaline are the October birthstones.For the ancient Romans, opals symbolized hope and good luck. Opals are coloful gems which shine and sparkle in a continually changing play of colours full of fantasy. Opal variations are practically unlimited and include Dark or Black Opal, White or Light Opal, Milk or Crystal Opal, Boulder Opal, Opal Matrix, Yowah Nuts from Queensland - the so-called "picture stones", and also Mexican and Fire Opal.

Know More about October Birthstone

Opal is a gem of many colors.This gem of sedimentary silica has grids of silica spheres which show a play of colors created thru
diffraction. The size of the spheres determine the wavelengths and therefore the colors seen. The brilliance of the colors are determined by the regularity of the grid. These changing colors of opal has been used by literateurs down the ages, from Shakespeare onwards, to symbolize a shifting mind and unsteadiness. There is a superstition that suggests that it is bad luck to wear an opal if opal is not your birthstone. Opals can deteriorate and change from a highly colorful, somewhat glassy stone to a rather colorless mass of a chalky silicon dioxide. That is because opals are unstable and are just one of the phases through which gel-like silica (SiO2) can pass on its way to becoming stable crystalline quartz.
Related Pages:

Opal Jewelry Selections

Loading

Interesting Facts about Opal

Civilizations in the Middle East believed that opals dropped to the earth from the heavens on lightening bolts.

The Romans believed that each opal contained a tiny rainbow which was responsible for the color of the stone.

A miner named Charlie Dunstan, in Austalia, brought the "Aurora Australis", the world's most valuable opal to the attention of collectors and scientists. It is now on display at the Sidney showroom of Altmann and Cherny

Great Opal Bargains on eBay

Loading

Opal Care

Opals are delicate gems. If an opal is allowed to dry, it will crack . Keep them in a tight plastic bag, with a damp piece of cotton or fabric to prevent dehydration. Clean your opals using a soft cloth or brush, a mild detergent, and room temperature water. Then rinse to remove any residue.

More Birthstone Lenses

Loading

Your Feedback, O Pal

submit
Show All

by

flashkid

Dont Worry Be Happy

Feeling creative? Create a Lens!

Explore related pages

Related Tags