The Fascinating Fire Opal

The other day a fire opal and diamond ring made it into my hands for a few moments, and I obviously took the chance to photograph it for us here on the blog:

Fire Opal and Diamond Ring

Our love for fire opals date back to ancient times, when it was the symbol of passionate love in India, the Persian kingdom, and in the Americas.  The Mayas and Aztecs called it Quetzalitzlipyollitli – ‘the stone of the bird of paradise’, as they believed that this kind of beauty could only ever have been created in the waters of paradise. (1)  The most significant fire opal deposits in the world can be found in Mexico, and it is Mexico’s national gemstone.

Fire opals reach a hardness of 6-6.5 on the Mohs scale (where a diamond is a 10 and sapphires are a 9) so it is quite a sensitive gemstone and must be worn with care.  The extraordinary colour in the stone comes from little traces of iron oxide, and some fire opals display the play of colours that we see in regular opals, however they are mostly known for their vivid body colour, as opposed to other opals, where the play of colours is what determines the value.

These beautiful gemstones bring us a feeling of warmth and well-being, and they are thought to bring courage, will-power and energy to their wearer.

 

Sources

(1) International Coloured Gemstone Association

Opal and Tourmaline – the October birthstones

October’s child is born for woe,
And life’s vicissitudes must know,
But lay an opal on her breast,
And hope will lull those woes to rest.

This is the October birthstone poem included in Tiffany & Co’s pamphlet from 1870, “of unknown author”.

An exquisite antique opal and diamond necklace from Richard Ogden

Oh you lucky October-born ladies and gents, your birthstones are the beautiful Opal and Tourmaline.  We quite recently looked closer at opals in the blog post The enchanting landscape of the Opal, and learnt that it is the national gemstone of Australia, which is where almost 95% of all opals come from.  I was delighted to finally get a good excuse to show you the this Art Nouveau-style opal and diamond pendant (photo above).  It comes together in that sweet little acorn design at the bottom, with nature being such a great source of inspiration during this period.

Antique Opal and diamond earrings at Richard Ogden

My favourite opal necklace 

The opal is associated with hope, innocence and purity, and it is thought to bring happiness, faithfulness, confidence and loyalty to its bearer – sounds pretty good to me!

A pair of elegant vintage tourmaline earrings from Cape Town

Vintage tourmaline earrings from Cape Town

Tourmaline is the other birthstone for October, which comes in a wide range of colours – above we can see a pair of green tourmaline earrings.  It can display several different colours in one single gemstone and I actually met a gem trader a little while ago who showed me some pieces of tourmaline that featured a rainbow of different colours, so I will definitely have to write another blog post on that once I locate the photos!  Tourmaline is found in Brazil, East Africa, Afghanistan and the US.

I was also very interested to find out that tourmaline has a rather unusual property: when it is warmed or rubbed it attracts small bits of paper, lint and ash, because it becomes charged with static electricity.  Benjamin Franklin saw the significance of it and used tourmaline in his studies of electricity.  Tourmaline is said to calm you down, and it is also believed to chase away fear, which is why it is sometimes referred to as the “Peace Stone”.

So a happy birthday to you, all you lovely October children, now go and enjoy your beautiful birthstones!