Opal

Some gems, like opal, are highly coveted, but rare to find, much less in the sizes and quality people dream of owning. Plastic opal simulants offer a budget friendly alternative to natural opal.

Some gems, like opal, are highly coveted but rare to find, much less in the sizes and quality people dream of owning. Glass opal simulants offer you the best of both worlds. You get the beauty of a beautiful natural opal, but at a budget-friendly price. This glass simulant recreates the beautiful play-of-color coveted in natural opal.

The best-known locations of blue opal come from Peru, Madagascar, Oregon, Arizona and Indonesia. The material ranges from semitranslucent to opaque. Only 10% of the material from Arizona show play-of-color. The Peruvian and Indonesian material gets its color from copper inclusions. The Oregon material gets its color from an optical phenomenon known as Rayleigh scattering.

Prase Opal is the yellowish to bluish green variety of common opal. The material obtains its color from Nickel. It is most often found in Kosovo, Iyobo Mountain mine in Tanzania and in California in the United States.

Green opal is the variety of green common opal that derives its color from iron. It is different from Prase opal that gets its color from Nickel. Green opal comes from Australia, Madagascar, Mali, Peru, Serbia and South Africa.

Mali opal was first discovered in 2007 but it was not seen in the gemstone market until 2011. The stones get their color from iron. These opals were formed long ago near the Saharan desert, which was once the site of ancient seas. Production of rough material is very low. Only 50 carats of gemstones will be faceted from every 100 grams of rough material.

Hyalite opal is known to come from Australia, Brazil, Mexico, Russia, South Africa and the U.S. It is named from the Greek word meaning ‘glass stone’ due to its glass-like appearance. It is colorless and does not display play-of-color and commonly forms as botryoidal aggregates.

Pink opal is found in Peru and Mexico. It is translucent to opaque and comes in brownish pink to pure pink. Pink opal is a combination of opal grains in chalcedony and cristobalite. The chalcedony makes the material slightly more durable and it typically has a Mohs hardness of 5-5.5 but can be up to 6. Peruvian pink opal is colored by manganese. Recent reports attribute the color of pink opal to Palygorskite inclusions and some organic materials.

Dendritic opals have fern-like dendritic crystalline inclusions. The stones are an intergrowth of opal and quartz. Black dendritic inclusions are due to manganese oxide crystallization.

Caramel Spice Opal™ is reported to come from Ojuelos de Jalisco, Mexico. It is easily distinguished by its rare, unique swirling patterns of brown, tan and white hues. Skilled cutters must carefully study each piece of rough before cutting to determine how to best display its swirl patterns. It has a mohs hardness of 6.

Morado Opal® is named from the Spanish word for “purple”. The material comes from a remote mining region located along the famous El Camino Real de Tierra Adentro National Historic Trail. The stones get their purple color from fluorite inclusions and are mottled with patches of white. Due to the intergrowth with quartz the stones have a Mohs hardness of 6.

Yowah Nut is a variety of Boulder Opal that derives its name from a locality in the Australian Outback. The nodules are about walnut size and will have colorful veins running throughout.

Opal with play of color has always been considered one of the most desired gems in the marketplace, earning it the undisputed title as 'Queen of Gemstones'. With the discovery of precious (and stable) opal in Ethiopia's northern Welo District in 2008, coupled with its prolific bounty, this remarkable gem has reclaimed its throne and rules again as one of the most in-demand gemstones in the 21st century.

Fire Opal is a variety of transparent to translucent red, orange to brown or yellow opal. It typically does not display play-of-color phenomena but occasionally fine examples with play-of-color will occur. Fire opal is best known from North, Central and South American but it has multiple sources around the world.

The term girasol opal applies to Fire Opal that displays play-of-color.

Boulder Opal, also known as Queensland Opal, comes from Queensland, Australia. The material contains precious opal in an ironstone or sandstone matrix.

Leopard Opal is precious opal with play-of-color sprinkled throughout Vesicular Basalt rock. The colorful opal is striking against the black stone matrix. It is only found in Zimapán, Hidalgo State, Mexico.

Honduran Opal is precious opal embedded in grayish or black basalt matrix. Due to the porous structure of the matrix, finished gemstones are often given a quick, hot resin bath and then scrubbed and cleaned. The resin acts as a barrier and helps to prevent the gems from absorbing other substances.

Contra Luz Opal will show play-of-color when light from behind. Specimens come from Queretaro, Mexico and Opal Butte, Oregon in the United States of America.

Black Opal was discovered in 1902 and is the rarest and most valuable variety of opal. Any opal material that displays play-of-color against a dark body tone can be described as Black Opal. Lightning Ridge in Australia is the best-known location, but it is also known to come from Mintabie, Australia, Java, Virgin Valley, Nevada and Wollo, Ethiopia.

Opal in matrix gems consist of precious opal, often cut en cabochon, with an outer layer of its host rock still attached. This stark contrast of glittering translucent opal with earthy rock makes for beautiful, one-of-a-kind pieces.

Some gems, like opal, are highly coveted but rare to find, much less in the sizes and quality people dream of owning. Synthetic, or laboratory created jewels, offer you the best of both worlds. You get the beauty of a beloved, rare gemstone, but at a budget friendly price. The term synthetic refers to a man-made material with a natural counterpart. The synthetic crystal replicates the chemical, optical and physical properties of the natural crystal with little or no variation.

Sugar-acid treated opal has been submerged in heated sugar or honey solution for several hours to a couple of days. The opal is then submerged in sulfuric acid. The sugar becomes oxidized by the acid and creates carbon particles in the stone.

Smoked treated stones are wrapped in aluminum foil and then exposed to smoke. The carbon from the smoke will permeate the stone and give a black or brown body color.

The hydrophane nature of Ethiopian opal allows the material take on dye. This property allows man to create vibrant red, blue, purple, pink or green opals.

Andamooka Matrix Opal is material from Andamooka, Australia that has been sugar or acid treated. Before treatment the material shows little play-of-color.

Opal triplets combine natural opal with layers of other materials. A thin slice of natural opal is assembled between a base (usually of matrix, plastic, glass or other material) and a colorless top that protects the natural opal. On occasion, the bonding agent may account for the third layer. Opal triplets typically provide a more affordable alternative to natural, solid opal.

An opal doublet is an assembled gem that consists of a thin slice of natural opal attached to a second layer of material with a bonding agent. The types of materials used for opal doublets vary considerably but may include ironstone, sandstone, black plastic or quartz. Opal doublets often provide a more affordable alternative to solid opals and are often used today for mass-produced jewelry.

As an affordable alternative to larger sized solid opals, mosaic opal triplets provide an affordable, and stylish, substitute. They are created by assembling a montage of small, thin opal slices and adhering them to a solid base material, which may be natural or man-made. The base material, often dark in color, provides a dramatic backdrop to the overall appearance of the triplet.