Opals: A Quick Overview

Opal jewelry and Australian opals in particular are one of the most sought after and beautiful multicolored gemstones in the world today. Only an opal can display the entire range of spectral hues in a wonderful balance. It is today regarded very highly and one of its varieties, the black opal is in fact more expensive than even diamond.

Appearance And Characteristics Of Opal:

The opal is said to be over 60 million years old. One of the unique characteristics of the stone is its opalescence. The stone has a rainbow like iridescence that changes according to the angle of observation. The stone possesses the ability to reflect and refract particular wavelengths of light. This play of color really makes opal jewelry come alive!

Australian Opals Shine The Brightest

This precious stone interacts with light to create flashes or sparks of blue, yellow, green, red and orange and occasionally purple and aqua. While red is considered to be the rarest, blue is quite common. Opals that displays red often shows most other colors as well. Milky, clear gray, brown or black are the usual body tones of an opal.

Types of Opal

Opals are of different varieties such as black, white, fire opal, crystal and the common opal. The most expensive and prized variety are black opals. It contains streaks of fire on a dark body color. The white opal is opaque and has color in flashes or speckles. The fire opal originates from Mexico and is usually orange, red or yellow in color. Crystal opals are transparent  and shows brilliant flashes of color. Common opal or potch (opals with no play of color) is available in abundance and is the most affordable variety of opal. Boulder opals are another variant that has a layer of ironstone rock on its backing.

Magnificent Opal Jewelry

The stone is cut in Australia, Mexico, Hong Kong, Germany etc. Every stone has a unique play of pattern and color. They can in fact be made into ornamental jewelry like rings, bracelets, earrings, brooches and many more magnificent pieces of opal jewelry.

Evaluating Opal Jewelry

Evaluating a stone or a piece of opal jewelry that contains the stone is quite difficult. A good knowledge of the stone is necessary. It is difficult for an untrained individual to tell the difference between a high quality stone and a synthetic or manufactured opal.

Valuation Of Opals

The quality of an opal is judged or determined by its intensity (they flare and flash in any kind of light), color (red is an indication of the highest quality of the stone), direction (flashes of color can be noticed from any angle or direction). It is crucial to meticulously evaluate the quality of the stone before a purchase is made.

Precious Australian Opals

Australian opals make up 95% of the worlds supply of precious opals and they are the national gemstone of Australia.

Opal comes in a variety of options and prices. Many Australian opals are quite affordable and prices begin as low as $10 and opal jewelry is much sought after by people today.