ABOUT OPAL

Opals are found in various fields around Australia, with Coober Pedy (Primarily White & Crystal Opal) and Lightning Ridge (famous for the valuable Black Opal, yielding 95% of Australia’s production. South Australia has Mintibie, Andamooka, Coober Pedy and Lambina, NSW has Lightning Ridge and surrounds, such as Grawin, Cooroolin and Wee Wah and also White Cliffs is home to Crystal Opal and Painted Ladies. A small amount of Tintenbah Opal is found near Byron Bay. This is volcanic opal and often has a dark orange/amber body tone with red and green flashes within the crystal.

All Opal in Australia is sold in its natural form, with the exception of Andamooka Opal which is often treated with Acid and Sugar to darken the body tone of the stone and produce higher contrast.

Queensland is the Australian home for Boulder Opal and Opal Nuts found at Koiroit and Yowah. Boulder Opal is found in the Great Australian Basin, above the site of the Eramonga Sea. The Fields include Winton, Opalton, Lambina, Chinchilla, Eramona, Koroit and Yowah.

The most rare and expensive Opals occur at Lightning Ridge, with Gem quality Black Opals fetching up to $35000 per carat. It also produces Dark, Light and Crystal Opals.

What makes Opals Valuable?

The main factors that relate to the value of Opals relate to a set criteria of characteristics. These include:

Body Tone - The darker or Blacker the Body Tone of an Opal, the better the contrast of bright to dark can be. Lighter Body tones are worth far less than darker tones.

Brightness - This is arguably the most important characteristic, as it is the brightness of the Opal that catches the viewers attention.

Play of Colour - Quite a comprehensive topic which encompasses not only the actual number of colours the percentage of coverage that bright colours have on the stone related to colourless potch. A major focus of Play of Colour is the actual pattern that the colours appear in, such as the rare Harlequin Pattern that has repeated uniform colour patters, ribbon pattern, rolling flash and over 50 other patterns. Remember that every individual opal is totally unique and different to any other.

Directionality - If the opals displays a wonderful bright play of colour from any viewing angle then this is termed as multidirectional and is the most desired. Some opals are directional and will only display bright attractive colours when viewed from certain angles.

Opals which are often classed as Fire Opals have a strong bright red centre with other colours mixed in, but from any direction the bright flash of red is still very obvious.