Those born in October are lucky enough to have a choice for the October birthstone. The October Birthstone can be either opal or pink tourmaline, two beautiful and distinctive gemstones. Opals are known for their amazing colors – it seems the whole rainbow shines from within one of these dazzling gemstones. Most opals come from Australia and they have been known to those who live there for thousands of years. The legends of Australian aborigines tell that the creator came down to earth on a rainbow to bring a message of peace to the whole world. At the spot where his foot touched the ground, the very stones came alive and started sparkling with all the colors of the rainbow. This, they say, is how the first October birthstone came to be.

Though opals are particularly striking, they are also fragile, ranking at only 5.5 to 6.5 on the Mohs scale of hardness. While the beauty of this October birthstone is singularly impressive, it can be delicate and must be handled with care. It is for this reason that many people born in October choose to represent their birth month with the other October birthstone, the pink tourmaline, instead. The tourmaline ranks between 7 and 7.5 on the Mohs scale of hardness, which makes for a much more durable piece of jewelry.

Tourmaline gems come in many different shades, in fact, like the opal, the creation story of tourmalines is also tied to a rainbow. In Egyptian legend, as the tourmaline made its journey up from the center of the earth, it passed through a rainbow and took on all of its colors. This October birthstone is mined in the United States, Afghanistan, Brazil and throughout Africa.

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