Seam Crystal Opal

To find a gorgeous piece of crisp and clear Crystal Opal from Seam Country in Lightning Ridge is quite rare, they are usually found to be quite milky or white — so I am super excited to see what emerges.

The Theory is — Seam opals are created by fissures, cracks and movements underground that create a cavity for the opal to form. The sediments of silica spheres fill up the cavity and usually form into a thin plate — on the rare occasion they can be quite thick.

Similarly, Nobby Opals are clusters of organic matter covered by the earth, the fossil decomposes and becomes a cavity. From there, the silica spheres soak through the ground and fill the cavities — voila, you have the beginnings of an opal! (Well actually, this all took place over 110 million years ago in the Cretaceous period, so in fact, it’s a very long and drawn out voila).

With this particular Crystal Opal I was able to clearly see the green underneath and some red on top — we all know that red is the best! By smoothing the back of the opal I was able to expose all that glorious colour — which meant I had to get rid of all the sand and inclusions. As a result, the haze quickly disappeared which left us with a super crisp true Crystal Opal.

The Results

We ended up with a glassy double-sided Crystal Opal with a rollover dome — weighing in at 3.92CT and around the $4000 mark. Flashes of green, orange and purples that bounce and project the light. It’s quite rare for both sides to be as dominate in color as the other — that’s what make this gem so special. Finally, you can seek out this beautiful Crystal Opal (here).