Inlay Opals are solid Opals which have been inserted into a piece of jewellery so that the metal surface is level with the surface of the Opal. Small thin pieces of precious crystal opal glued directly into channels in jewellery. Thin chips of precious crystal opal glued onto black backing, can be used in doublets, triplets or on watch faces. Thin slice of precious crystal opal glued between crystal cap on top and black backing. When the backing is brown ironstone it is often called a boulder doublet. The dark backing enhances the colors of the opal. Boulder opal is usually cut to the contours of the opal vein creating a baroque wavy surface and is often freeform and irregular in shape, making boulder opal unique and exclusive among its peers.īoulder Opal from Queensland is declared by many experts to have the most brightness and best appearance of the Australian Opals.ĭoublets are made by gluing slices of precious opal to a common opal (potch) backing with blackened cement, usually an epoxy resin. Boulder opal is in very high demand and extremely precious. Opal bearing boulder is always cut including the host brown ironstone. All of the opal fields produce white opal with most of it being mined in Coober Pedy.īoulder opal is found sparsely distributed over a wide area of Australian ironstone or boulder country where the opal in fills cracks and crevices in the ironstone boulders. And White opal is the most common type of precious opal and is translucent with a creamy appearance which dominates the diffracted colors. When held out of the direct light, crystal opal displays some of the most intense opal color. It usually origin from South Australian fields though some from other areas.Ĭrystal opal is transparent and is pure opal (hydrated silica.) It typically has sharp clarity of diffracted color visible from within and on the surfaces of the opal. This is the most abundant and affordable type of opal. It has a light or pale background and often displays red, green and blue pinfire. Light Opal has white or light appearance. It requires a precise meaning so that the quality of this gem can be meaningfully established. Black Opal is a gemstone that has had an important effect overseas, as a product of Australia. It’s dark background color, usually black, blue, brown or gray, sets the spectral colors ablaze much like a storm cloud behind a rainbow. This magnificent gemstone is the most valuable form of opal. It is not uncommon for a boulder opal to exhibit much brighter colours than most black opal.Black opal is principally found at Lightning Ridge in New South Wales, Australia. The cost of boulder opal is generally much less than a similar looking solid black opal from Lightning Ridge. A “clean faced” boulder opal with little or no ironstone or sand showing in the face of the gem is the most sought after form of boulder opal. Ironstone intrusions through the surface are not uncommon and may or may not detract from the value of the opal. Boulder opal is cut leaving some of the natural ironstone backing under the opal. These are found generally in sandstone or clay levels within the opal country. The opal is found as thin to thick veins running through the ironstone concretions. The deposits are scattered and remote with some mines being almost 100km away from the next.īoulder opal consists of a layer of opal naturally adhering to an ironstone, mudstone or sandstone backing. Boulder Opal is found in Queensland from Kynuna in the northwest to Hungerford in the south.
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