Assignment 4 Discussion

[Prof. Kendra Givens]

In the class forum, tell us which of the gemstones mentioned in this lesson is your favorite. Why are you particularly fascinated by or attached to that stone? Does it have a special meaning for you? Do you have jewelry with that stone in it? 15 points for 150 words!

[Anne-Marie Gagne]

It’s actually kind of hard to pick a favorite from this lesson! They’re all gorgeous and all of them are special to me. My high school class ring has a very gorgeous blue sapphire in it, my mom and one of my brothers' birthstones are topaz, my dad and two of my niece’s birthstones are opal, and one of my nephew’s birthstone is tanzanite. So I’m a bit attached to all of them! I have a set of jewelry that has opals that my dad got me when I was 14.

I’m trying to see which one I could maybe kind of count as my favorite out of the four of them and I think opal actually wins that race. While sapphires have a wide range of colors and tanzanite is really cool to look at, opals just have that little bit extra with the color of play it has. Those extra colors that can happen just makes it much cooler and much prettier to look at.

[Emily Spencer]

As Anne-Marie stated, it’s actually very hard to pick a favorite. To be fair, I’ve said that for all the lessons! What can I say? Iove me some shinies!!!

If it comes down to it, I would have to again, agree with Anne-Marie and declare opal as my favorite. I love the duality of it; a hard-looking stone that is inherently soft and fragile beneath the surface. While I would never say that I was soft, and certainly not fragile, the opal reminds me of my own personality. I have been told that I am much nicer than people expect me to be; which I suppose is a compliment of sorts. I tend to hide my emotions underneath a tough exterior; there are not too many people who get past that.

Again comparing the opal to myself, I love the magic play of color, which lights up a stone that is rather ‘meh’ at first glance (at least in my opinion). I definitely can relate. Being an Aquarian, I am a complex person of many moods and facets; all which make up the sum of me and rather enhances the ‘ordinary’, if that makes sense. Yes, I am a boring person; so I will take any help that I can get.

I am lucky enough to own several opals, including a fire opal that my husband (then boyfriend) gave me for our 5th anniversary. It’s really tiny; but it means the world to me!

[Olivia Thorneblood]

Sometime picking a favorite gemstone with a limited selection can be a difficult choice. Especially when you have two that could easily fit in this category. So, after some consideration, I decided the Opal had a bit more meaning at this time.
I received a precious Opal piece of jewelry from a special someone in my life years ago. It was an oval with gemstones stones that surrounded it on a fine chain. I guess at this point, it would be considered a vintage piece. You know what? I thought I should actually take a look at it again since I had recently needed to have some small repair work done. So actually, the stones surrounding the Opal were sapphires which was my other favorite choice. Amazing!
You know looking at an Opal in person is different than just looking at a picture. Their fire or movement from within by how they are viewed when the stone is tilted to the light or away from it. Opals almost look like they are alive or full of life or have a life of their own.

[Albus Togglebog]

Again, picking a favorite is a hard choice. While I think the topaz is a little basic, it is still very pretty and it gets the job done as a gemstone. The opal feels a bit overwhelming because of all the different colors, but I still really enjoy it because this makes every opal unique. Furthermore, as someone who has lived in Australia, I also feel a light patriotism towards it.

I think it might be a tie between sapphire and tanzanite. They are both a soothing deep blue in color (their most common forms at least) and look quite similar. Sapphires are more scratch-resistant due to its hardness and more valuable due to its rarity. Plus, they also come in a variety of colors and are not limited to blue. On the other hand, I find the tanzanite’s special property of pleochroism super fascinating and overall very pretty. Each of these differences are weighed almost equally, which makes it hard for me to pick a definitive favorite.