November's Birthstones - Topaz vs Citrine

Citrine and Topaz – the two birthstones of November – are often confused with one another because of their yellowish-brown appearances. However, the visual potential of Topaz far surpasses the limited yellow and brown hues of citrine. Coming in a rainbow of color – the most popular, blue – topaz is one of those hardy stones that has endless potential when it comes to jewelry design.

The wide array of color that Topaz is available in

Topaz comes in shades of pink, light green, blue, red, yellow, and even black.  For those with November birthdays, this wide array of colors is helpful when choosing a piece of jewelry that can represent the rich, warm colors of fall. This is also true of citrine.

Though it is more limited in ranges of color, this stone is also the perfect gift-giving stone for those with November birthdays. It is a rather hardy and inexpensive stone with the most sought-after colors ranging from clear, radiant yellowish to brownish-red; again, perfect colors for fall.

The shades of Citrine

Though they can be similar in appearance, topaz is a much higher-quality and valued stone. 

Seeing the Beauty in October's TWO Birthstones

For most people, the word “Opal” triggers images of milky white stones with flecks of assorted, muted colors. The words “fiery” or “spectacular” are nowhere in sight or mind. That is, until you see one. The stark contrast between the two images below is vast and undeniable.

As with most stones, there are different qualities about them, and those qualities are what set them apart from others in their own family. Most opals displayed in stores are the least interesting, lowest quality stones. Most people have never seen just how exquisite and vibrant opals have the ability to be.

An opal’s background color often provides the backdrop it needs to display the play-of-color going on in the stone. A black background lets those colors pop in a bright, beautiful way, turning opal into what we believe is one of the most interesting stones there are.

Opals with white backgrounds tend to wash out the colors and leave them appearing as mild, pastel-like afterthoughts of blended color. 

This, unfortunately, is what people associate with opals.

We here at Poway Fine Jewelers don’t always carry the dynamite opal that we are showing you here, but we have access to it for all you October babies (or those shopping for their October babies!)       

Tourmaline – a stone with one of the widest color ranges of any gem species in the world – is October’s second birthstone. With a variety of hues in shades of red, pink, magenta, peach, orange, yellow, green, blue, and violet, tourmaline lives up to its name, which means “mixed stone”.  Those with October birthdays can choose from a multitude of colors and shades to mix-and-match for bracelets and pendants, or select a solid color or a rare two or three-color tourmaline for a ring or pendant. The options are endless.

And if you’re in the market for this stone, San Diego has some of the most prominent tourmaline around. A mine located in Mesa Grande has been in use for the past 100 years and contains some of the highest quality tourmaline in the world.