Mexican fire opal is volcanic opal that comes from Mexico. The opal has the ability to show color and pattern (fire). Mexican Fire opal is the term used for the color-based opal that comes from the mines and has gem color in it.
The volcanic opal is a very unstable type of opal and has been known to craze or crack up once it has been taken out of the ground. Only very few pieces of Mexican opal will stay on cracked, but most people who deal in Mexican opal will or do expect some of the opal to have cracks in it.
There is a volcanic type of opal in Australia that is found in Northern New South Wales. This type of opal is very volatile and 90 percent of the opal will crack up and fall apart in time of being out of the ground. When silica has certain water content in it, the opal then dries out and the composition of the opal changes and puts pressure on the opal and then will craze up or crack.
Mexican fire opal usually when showing color play has reds and greens in it. The body tone is usually crystal to dark crystal. So when held up to the light you can see through most Mexican opals.
The US market is the biggest market for Mexican opal because of its proximity to the US. Not many people in Australia know about Mexican opal.
If you were to compare the Mexican fire opal to Black opal from Australian Black opal there would be no contest in my opinion. The black opal would win hands down. This analogy is purely based on the prices that opal reached in the past history.
For more information on opal cutting or purchasing opal. Please email blackopalsdirect@live.com or you can call me on Skype My username is Blackopaldirect and it’s free!
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