Most people who have seen opal usually refer to the milky white opal that was plentiful and marketed in the early days of opal mining in Australia. White opal was used in rings with clusters of diamonds and intricate designs made by the jeweler. A white opal ring is the most popular type of opal jewelry in the world and then comes earrings and pendants.
White opal was found in the early days by opal miners in Coober Pedy. The opal was cut and polished into many different shapes and sizes to make the market what it is today. White opal has a milky body tone and when held in the light it should show some color play. If not the opal is considered common opal and not worth much at all. White opal is worth $$$ if it has color play and pattern in the stone.
Miners in Lightning Ridge also have mined White opal and most of it has been sent to china for cutting. White opal is fairly inexpensive compared to crystal or black opal and that is why calibrating it does not matter when losing weight or carats. The calibrating process is done for jewelry manufacturers so the opal can be set into castings that have been pre-made to cut down on cost and time.
White opal rings are usually castings that have calibrated opal in them, except for the bright and free-shaped opal. These opals are made into custom jewelry that is more extravagant and valuable for the purchaser. Custom Jewelry is always more costly for the jeweler has to make the piece up from scratch.
You will notice that most antique opal jewelry has white opal in it because of the amount that was found in the early tears of opal mining in Australia.
To give you a god idea, Have a look on Ebay and other websites that will sell antique opal Jewelry and you will see that the majority of the antique opal jewelry will be white opal. 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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