October Birthstone
Opal
Alternates: Tourmaline
- Color
- Opal: a white, black or crystal body with flashes of spectral color (play-of-color). Tourmaline: almost every color, including pink, green and multicolor "watermelon."
- Hardness (Mohs scale)
- Opal 5.5 – 6.5; tourmaline 7 – 7.5
Meaning & history
Opal's play-of-color comes from tiny silica spheres that diffract light. Tourmaline's name is often traced to the Sinhalese turmali, a word used for mixed gem pebbles, and the stone was long confused with other gems.
Folklore and symbolism are shared here as tradition, not as fact or as health claims.
Care tips
Opal is delicate: clean with warm, soapy water, and avoid ultrasonic and steam cleaners, heat, sudden temperature changes and hard knocks. Tourmaline can be cleaned with warm, soapy water; avoid ultrasonic cleaning for stones with fractures.
Design ideas
- A bezel-set opal ring that protects the stone
- A pink tourmaline pendant
- A watermelon tourmaline statement piece
- October stones in a mother's ring
Imagining something with opal or tourmaline? Let's design it together.
Design with opal