People born in October celebrate and commemorate their birthdays with two beautiful birthstones - Opal and Tourmaline, both of which happen to have endless color combinations and beautiful tinting characteristics. Tourmaline is the newest addition to the October birthstones, and its name is derived from the Garo word "toramalli", which means "gemstone of mixed colors", as there are usually multiple colors in a single crystal.
Tourmaline
Camélia Aquatique Necklace，by Chanel
Tourmaline has a relatively short history of use as a gemstone, but it has been a favorite since its inception due to the beauty of its vibrant, rich colors and high transparency.
Hardness 7-7.5, density about 3g/cm³, shell-like fracture, glassy luster, transparent or opaque, thermoelectric. After γ-ray irradiation, tourmaline can have different discoloration due to different impurities contained.
The seven color grades of tourmaline are, in descending order, red, blue, green, multi-colored, brown, colorless, and black. Within the tourmaline family, red, green and blue tourmaline are the most popular colors and rubellite is the most expensive of the three. Bright red and blue tourmalines generally command the highest prices, followed by emerald green tourmalines. Colorless and black tourmalines are not as valuable or expensive, especially black tourmalines, which are produced in large quantities and are relatively low-grade.
The price of tourmaline is determined by many comprehensive factors: ① color (saturation, brightness); ② clarity; ③ cut; ④ weight; ⑤ origin, processing methods and so on.
Opal
Opal belongs to opal in mineralogy. The changing and fascinating colors of Opal gemstone are just like a colorful dream, giving people a magical reverie. People regard Opal as the birthstone of October, the stone of hope and comfort.
Opal in English for Opal, from the Latin Opalus, meaning "set the beauty of gemstones in one". Pliny the Great, the ancient Roman naturalist, once said, "In a single Opal stone, you can see ruby flames, amethyst spots, emerald green sea, colorful, all in one, beautiful." High-quality opals are known as the "palette" of gemstones and are renowned for their exceptional color-changing effects. The Opal has been designated as the birthstone for the month of October.
(1, Fire Opal, 2, Black Opal, 3, White Opal, 4, Hydrophane Opal, 5, Purple Plain Opal, 6, Pink Plain Opal, 7, Fire Opal, 8, Blue-Green Plain Opal, 9, Blue Plain Opal, 10, Plain Opal, 11, Yellow Opal Cat's Eye)
In the opal stone will generally be red orange and yellow variegated color is the most expensive. The value of the Opal stone by its own color effect to judge, usually the more expensive Opal stone is with red, orange and yellow variegation, the overall color is not a single unchanged, there are a variety of colors to change, and the color variegation there are different shapes, then the overall value of the higher.
Opal (Opal) stone with colorful light flame, set the beauty of gemstones in one, is recognized as the world's most beautiful gemstones. It has ruby's voluptuousness, amethyst's magnificence, emerald's elegance, sapphire's steadiness, bright and charming colors make countless people fall for it.
So favored by the market of gemstones, along with the natural market will be a variety of imitation opal varieties also appear in large numbers. In the face of such a market, for consumers to identify the quality of Opal stone is particularly important. Identify the quality of Opal stone to observe the color change is very important.
From the observation of color: as we all know, the value of the opal and the color of the opal stone is closely related. We buy opal is to buy its color. Therefore, before buying opal, the first step we need to do is to carefully observe how the color of opal.
Opal stone due to its own special internal structure, light through the internal diffraction interference phenomenon, caused by the surface of a colorful light. The best grade of color change phenomenon is red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo all rainbow light.
However, in terms of monochromatic color change, red light has the highest value, followed by indigo light, yellow light, green light is more inferior, the more obvious color change the higher the grade. The more obvious the color change, the higher the grade. The larger the area covered by the color change, the better, especially if the color change can be seen from every angle, the best.
The high degree of obviousness of the color change phenomenon, the value can be high. There are three main patterns of color change in Opal: color pattern, color splash, and star fire.
Naturally, Harlequin, with its rainbow of colors, is the most valuable; Pinfire, with its single color, is much less so. In fact, regardless of any color variegation, usually variegation phenomenon is the most important factor in determining the value of opal.
Currently, Australia's opal fields are located mainly in Queensland, New South Wales and South Australia and are centered around the remains of the ancient "Great Artesian Basin". The Lightning Ridge area of New South Wales, Australia is the most famous black opal.
The Mexican Fire Opal is an important member of the world's Opal scene, and one of the most highly regarded varieties is the Fire Opal with its yellow, orange and red body colors.