Beads & Baubles Cafe

Modern      – Topaz

Traditional – Citrine

Cabochon  – Opal (see article on October’s birthstone)

Zodiac

Oct 24 – Nov 21 – Aquamarine (see article on March’s birthstone)

Nov 22 – Dec 21 – Topaz

Topaz – pronounced (tō‘păz) is a  gemstone that has been used for centuries in jewelry. The gem comes in a variety of colors.  Clear, blue, yellow, yellowish orange, pinkish orange to golden brown. It is confused with the less valuable citrine, which sometimes is sold under the name topaz by unscrupulous jewelers. You should always check and make sure the stone you are looking at is Topaz and not Citrine.  It is perfectly acceptable to substitute Citrine for Topaz if you wish, just don’t pay Topaz Prices   Another misnomer is “Smokey Topaz”  this is actually Smokey Quartz.  By naming is Smokey Topaz, jewelers felt people would pay more.  Smokey Quartz is a very popular stone and the better cuts are moderate in price.

 
The blue topaz that is often confused with aquamarine is rarely natural and is produced by irradiating and then heating clear crystals. Yellow Topaz is the traditional November Birthstone. Blue Topaz is sometimes used as the birthstone for the month of December.
 
A gift of Topaz is said to symbolize friendship and to strengthen one’s capacity to give and receive love.
 
The Egyptians said that topaz was colored with the golden glow of the mighty sun god Ra. This made topaz a very powerful amulet that protected the faithful against harm. The Romans associated topaz with Jupiter, who also is the god of the sun. Topaz sometimes has the amber gold of fine cognac or the blush of a peach and all the beautiful warm browns and oranges in-between. Some rare and exceptional topaz is pale pink to a sherry red.

Ancients said that you should wear Topaz if you wish to be clear-sighted: legend has it that it dispels all enchantment and helps to improve eyesight as well! The ancient Greeks believed that it had the power to increase strength and make its wearer invisible in times of emergency. Topaz was also said to change color in the presence of poisoned food or drink. Its mystical curative powers waxed and waned with the phases of the moon: it was said to cure insomnia, asthma, and hemorrhages.

Topaz is a very hard gemstone but it can be split with a single blow, a trait it shares with diamond. As a result it should be protected from hard knocks.
 
The name “topaz” is derived from the Greek topazos, “to seek ,” which was the name of an island in the Red Sea that was difficult to find and from which a yellow stone (now believed to be a yellowish olivine) was mined in ancient times. In the Middle Ages the name topaz was used to refer to any yellow gemstone, but now the name is only properly applied to the silicate described above.
 
Citrine - pronounced Ci·trine (sĭ-trēn‘, sĭt‘rēn’)
 
A pale yellow variety of crystalline quartz resembling topaz.
 
Transparent, coarse-grained variety of the silica mineral quartz. Citrine is a semiprecious gem that is valued for its yellow to brownish color and its resemblance to the rarer topaz. Natural citrine is rarer than amethyst or smoky quartz, both of which are often heated to change their natural color to that of citrine. Citrine is often marketed under various names that confuse it with topaz to inflate its price; it may be distinguished from topaz by its inferior hardness. It occurs mainly in Brazil, Uruguay, the Ural Mountains, Scotland, and North Carolina.
 
In ancient times, citrine was carried as a protection against snake venom and evil thoughts.

Modern & Carbochon Birthstone –           Opal
              Traditional Birthstone -           Tourmaline
 
Zodiac Stones for October
 
Libra             Sept. 23 – Oct. 23            Chrysolite (Peridot)
Scorpio          Oct.  24 – Nov. 21            Aquamarine
 
OPAL - pronounced (ō‘pəl) 
Opal is a relatively common mineral in its common form, which is known as common opal and lacks the play of color for which gem, or precious, opal is known. The hardness of opal on the Mohs hardness scale ranges from 5 to 6.
The color of common opal ranges from transparent, glassy, and colorless to white and bluish white. The luster of the stone can go from vitreous to pearly. Precious opal has a play of color that is the result of white light being diffracted by the relatively regular internal array of silica spheres.  Semiprecious Opal is beautiful but it does not have the fire and brilliance of a precious opal.  Because opal is a hydrous mineral, certain opals from specific geologic occurrences may crack because of water loss. Therefore, considerable care is required in the polishing and handling of opal.
The name opal probably is derived from the ancient names for the stone.  Sanskrit;  upala which translates “precious stone”, the Greek; opallios which translates “color change”, and the Latin; opalus which translates “stone from several elements”. It has been mined for centuries, at least since Roman times when they extracted the opal from areas now within the Czech Republic. The Aztecs made use of local Mexican sources as did the Spaniards when they exported the material back to Europe.
Australia produces around 97% of the world’s opal. 90% is called ‘light opal’ or white and crystal opal. White makes up 60% and all the opal fields produce white opal; Crystal opal or pure hydrated silica makes up 30%; 8% is black and only 2% is boulder opal.

A source of white base opal in the United States is Spencer, Idaho. A high percentage of the opal found there occurs in thin layers. As a result, most of the production goes into the making of doublets and triplets.
 
The state gem stone for Nevada is precious black opal, which is named for the true black opal found in Virgin Valley, Humboldt County, Nevada.

OTHER TYPES OF OPAL
Fire opal is a translucent to semi-opaque stone that is generally yellow to bright orange and sometimes nearly red and displays pleochroism at certain angles.
Peruvian opal is a semi-opaque to opaque stone found in Peru which is often cut to include the matrix in the more opaque stones. It comes in various shades of blue and pink.
 
African Opal is a semi-opaqie to opaque stone found in Africa.  It is found in various shades of white, yellow and brown. 
 
Tourmaline – pronounced: tour·ma·line (tʊr’mə-lĭn, -lēn’)

Tourmaline seems to have a special place in the hearts of mineral collectors as well as in that of gem and gemstone enthusiasts. Its nearly universal popularity is based on two very important facts: first, it is a bright and beautiful gemstone that can be found in just about any color; and second, materials that are of acceptable quality are affordable to most purchasers.
 
The word “rainbow” is used figuratively to describe tourmaline. In reality, it is a well recognized fact that tourmaline’s diversity in color is not limited to the seven colors of the rainbow. Tourmaline can be colorless to just about any color, hue, or tone known to man. And if range of colors among different tourmalines is not enough, individual crystals can vary in color along their length or in cross-section.
 
The variations in color along a crystal’s length give rise to the bicolor and tricolor tourmalines which have multitudes of color combinations. The variation in color in cross-section can be concentric, as in the case of “watermelon” tourmaline, a pink core surrounded by a green rind. Or the variation may have a distinct triangular pattern as in the case of liddicoatite
 
Tourmaline is mined in large quantities in the United States (California and Maine) and Brazil.
 
Native Americans were the first to discover and used these beautiful tourmalines in their jewelry long before the gemstone industry started to mine them in the late 1870’s.

Here are some of our pieces with African Opal

Zodiac Stones for the month of September.

Virgo -  Aug 23 – Sept 22 – Carnelian

Libra – Sept 23 – Oct 23    – Chrysolite (Peridot)
 

Cabochon – Lapis Lazuli
 
 
SAPPHIRE – pronounced sap·phire (săf‘īr’)
 
Sapphire (from Hebrew: Sapir) is the single-crystal form of aluminium oxide (Al₂O₃), a mineral known as corundum. It is the second hardest natural mineral known to man. Still Sapphires can be chipped or fractured if handled roughly.  It can be found naturally as gemstones or manufactured in large crystal boules for a variety of applications.
 
Sapphire is said to be the gem of destiny.  It can bring out the best within you and help make your dreams come true.
 
In ancient times people believed  that the sky was just a gigantic blue Sapphire stone into which the earth was embedded . When one gazes into a beautiful blue sapphire gem you can easily see why this belief came about. Sapphire exists in all the shades of blue skies, from the deep blue of evening skies to the bright blue of a clear  summer sky. Sapphire also comes in many other colors, not only in the transparent blues, but also displaying the bright fireworks of sunset colors – yellow, pink, orange and purple. So Sapphire is truly a heavenly stone.

Blue is also the favorite color of about 50 per cent of the population, men and women alike. The color blue is linked to emotions such as sympathy and harmony, friendship and loyalty.  Sapphire blue has thus become a color related to anything permanent and reliable, and this is one of the reasons why women in many countries settle on Sapphire for their engagement rings. Sapphire symbolizes loyalty and faithfulness, while at the same time expressing love and yearning.
 
Sapphire includes any gemstone of the mineral corundum other than the red ruby. Sapphire is most commonly blue but also occurs as purple, yellow, orange, pink, green, color shift and white varieties. A sapphire that is colored orange-red is sometimes called a padparadsha. Sapphires have a hardness of 9 on the Mohs scale and do not cleave which makes them perfect for faceted gemstones.

Lore
Sapphire was said to represent truth, sincerity and consistency and therefore many engagement rings of old were made with Sapphire to convey the commitment and loyalty of the giver. Kings wore large sapphires around their necks as powerful defense against harm.  Sapphire was also said to preserve the wearer from envy and attracted divine favor.  Sapphire’s healing properties are said to relieve mental depression, promotes peace and happiness, and stimulates motivation and goal orientation.