Black Opal Pendant

So, you’ve honed in on jewelry as your gift of choice for a special man or woman this October … well done! Jewelry is a long-lasting and very personal gift, with pendants that are worn next to the heart, rings that a lucky someone sees every time they use their hands, and earrings that flatter and frame faces. However, there is such a large range of jewelry that it can be positively daunting trying to find the perfect birthday gift. One easy way to narrow the search is with birthstones - for October, it is the opal. These beautiful stones come in all sorts of color schemes, from fiery to white-hot, to ocean-deep, on earrings, bracelets and pendants. Here we look at our picks of the bunch for October birthday boys and girls.

Green Opal - White Gold Pendant

Blue Opal Earrings

Opal White Gold Drop Earrings

Pink Opal White Gold Stud Earrings

Heart Shaped White Opal Ring

Ten-Opal Pendant

Impressive Colorful Opal Bracelet

Opals are available in just about every color of the rainbow, from red to white, blue to green, grey, olive, magenta, brown and black. Opals are such unique stones, also, no doubt just like your October-born friend or loved one! Rather than being a clear to opaque single color, like most gemstones, they have two or more colors in a symbiotic conjunction. Red on black opals are the rarest and most expensive, but not necessarily the most beautiful! That is up to your taste, of course. You can see a black opal example at the beginning of the article - the opal in the pendant has a gemstone weight of 1.26 carats, and is topped by three brilliant cut white diamonds. It is set on 18ct white gold, and is a great choice for October babies who aren’t as keen on the usual fiery, astronomical colors of opals.

One of the next nicest things about opals is that they are also unique in the cuts that are used to display these distinctive gems - brilliant cut, princess cut, and baguette cut do not enter into the opal discussion. You can see a lovely example of the freeform cuts that are used for opals at right, in the green opal-white gold pendant. The opal is a 9mm x 7.5mm boulder, set on 14ct white gold. The pendant is sold as a stand-alone, so you can choose whatever chain suits your friend or loved one best. This gorgeous piece is extremely reasonably priced, and also features free shipping, along with every other product you purchase at the same time.

Opals are often used as a feature piece in jewelry, with minimal metal shaping or adornment surrounding them, as the colors and lovely natural shapes speak for themselves. You can see a great example of this at right - these blue opal earrings are a standard sort of design, which is available with white gold, yellow gold, rose gold or sterling silver, and in opal colors from green to pink to blue to red to white. You can get these on drop earrings or studs - several variants are pictured together.

You do also occasionally see opals cut and shaped like ordinary gemstones, although without all the faceting that is usually used to highlight sparkle - opals do that all by themselves! The heart opal ring pictured has quite a rare white opal, set on yellow 18 carat gold. There are two baguette cut diamonds on either side of the opal, helping lift it and make it a centerpiece.

If color is a trademark of your October birthday girl, then the ten-opal pendant pictured is a great way to incorporate all of the gem’s beautiful array of colors. The opals are Australian boulder doublets, and they are set in sterling silver. The pendant is a spectacular 8mm long, and as it is sold stand-alone, you can choose whichever chain you think will suit her friend or loved one best.

Finally, for those big, bright and beautiful girls, this opal bracelet really highlights the pastel-fiery depths of these sought-after stones. Each of the gems measures 125mmx12mm approximately, and they are set on a 14 carat yellow gold bracelet. Don’t forget that you can layby luxury items like this - if you have seen it but can’t afford it at the moment, you can always have it put away for next year!

There is a huge range of opal jewelry, so if you haven’t seen exactly what you’d like to ‘wow’ her with this year, just click the link to keep browsing. All of the products in this section are hand-selected, with the benefit of several decades of helping lost customers find the perfect gift for their loved ones! And if you need any further help, just click the Live Help link to the right of screen, and we’ll be right there beside you