The birthstone for October is tourmaline.  There are 14 officially recognized varieties of tourmaline. Tourmaline varies in color from black, yellow, green, pink, light blue, dark blue, and colorless.  Some crystals of tourmaline can contain multiple colors....one end is green and the opposite end is pink to red in color.

Chemically, tourmaline is a silicate of aluminum and boron with several common trace impurities.  Each impurity results in a different color of tourmaline.  Some pink tourmaline are irradiated to help enhance the red color of the gemstones.

Tourmaline has a hardness of 7-7.5 on the Mohs hardness scale.  This makes tourmaline about the same hardness as sand and dust and for this reason, tourmaline is not reqally suitable for use in rings and bracelets for everyday wear. Save tourmaline for use in special occasion rings and bracelets, and for everyday earrings and necklaces, where the beauty of the stone can be shown off without fear of damage.