Photos of opal from around the world. Guidance for people who want to buy opal, see different types of opal, understand their names, learn about synthetics and imitations.

An "opal doublet" consists of a thin slice of precious opal glued to a solid base (often made of black obsidian). An "opal triplet" consists of a thin slice of precious opal glued to a black base, …

Large discoveries of opal were made in Ethiopia in 2008 and 2013. These deposits produce precious, fire and common opal in a wide variety of colors and types. Ethiopia might capture a …

Two popular cutting styles are: 1) a gem that shows seams and patches of precious opal within host rock, and, 2) a thin seam of precious opal as the face of a gem with a natural host rock …

Aug 10, 2017 · Nevada produces a number of gemstones. They include: precious, fire, and common opal; turquoise; agate; jasper; obsidian; petrified wood; variscite; wonderstone and …

So, here is a quick lesson on the three basic types of opal. Fire Opal is a variety of opal that has a bright yellow, bright orange or bright red background color.

Some of the best-known are in Australia, Honduras, and Mexico. A few types of rock host the colorful display of matrix opal. These include limestone, sandstone, claystone, ironstone, …

Aug 13, 2019 · Many types of synthetic opal are now cut into beautiful ring-size cabochons that sell for just a few dollars each. Even the very best synthetic opal can be cut into cabochons …

Pictures of Opal A collection of different types of opal from all around the world and Mars too!

More familiar examples of diffraction are rainbows produced by sunlight diffracted by raindrops, or opal's play-of-color caused by light diffracted by tiny spheres of opal within the gem.