Category: Opal Classification

Watch out… opal color rant! Justin’s back this week and boy, he’s got something on his mind… In the early days of opals discovery, when someone stumbled across a gorgeous gem that resembled a rainbow and a galaxy of stars all rolled into one, why did they decide to name it… by it’s greyscale body tone? C’mon, can we not give the stunning myriad of opal colors at least a mention?! The diamond industry has done a great job at naming their gems which is something the opal industry should take into consideration when describing the breathtaking colors of opal. Diamonds that are off-yellow or brown have been cleverly re-marketed…

Read More

The latest edition of InColor magazine is here with not one but two articles by Black Opal Direct! InColor is the magazine produced by the International Colored Gemstone Association, of which we are a member. First we give the international community a rundown on the Opal Symposium held last July in Lightning Ridge as well as updating the community on the matter of opal classification. There are articles on the sustainable practices of the opal mining industry as well as a not to be missed article on opal formation by Dr Simon Pecover. Below is a link to the full online version of the magazine but please grab a copy…

Read More

Sometimes we see the world in things that you never would expect. This opal has a nucleus at the bottom of the piece that expands outwards like the beginning of time (the Big Bang theory). Like asteroids screaming away from the explosion. The images of what this opal says to the individual will be so vastly different from comments like. “It looks like the birth of Jesus” or “It’s a sunrise” or, “I see the Northern lights”. Some have even said it looks like the Eye Of Sauron. But for the opal professional we call this Asteria pattern. Asteria is a rare pattern in opal that can have the appearance…

Read More