The Opal, Octobers birthstone

black opal brooch

Opals are one of my favourite gemstones for setting in jewellery and so I am delighted that not only are they the Birthstone for October but Opals are also the Birthstone for Libra and so I can claim them for my own even having a birthday in late September.

Opals are commonly seen in a milky white colour with sparkles of green, blue, red and ( less commonly black). Most Opals are from Australia.

In history Opals have has a chequered reputation. Originally they stood for Hope, Purity and innocence. In the middle ages they though that opals had the powers of every gemstone where the colour was found in that opal. So an opal with green in also had the power of an emerald and one with red or blue had the powers of rubies or sapphires. Hence the more colours in an opal the more powerful and sought after it was.

  In the Victorian era there was a famous Novel written by Sir Walter Scott in which an enchanted opal causes the death of a baroness. This seems to have been the beginning of the opals reputaion for bad luck and death. In otherwords its poor reputaiton stems from a Victorian novel and I like to think of it more in the traditional medieval way as having multiple powers.

Here are a few pieces of vintage jewellery set with opals available from antiquesavenue:

Black opal brooch

There is a super oval black opal set into this 9 carat gold brooch. The hallmarks date it to the 1980s. The opal is a doublet

Edwardian opal heart brooch

What a beautiful  brooch, It is  is set with a heart shaped opal. It is marked as 9 ct gold

Opal ring

This vintage ring is made of fully hallmarked nine carat gold and set high with a real opal which measures about 1 cm long. The hallmarks date this ring to vintage 1980s. It is in really excellent clean condition

UK ring size O, USA ring size 7.25

opal pendant