Opal doublets are a thick cut of opal, usually about 2mm thick with a black backing. Triplets are typically used to make opal jewelry and are what most people own. ![]() These layers make the opal more durable and they help to enhance its natural appearance. The top may be made of glass, but the best quality dome top is made of clear quartz.Īll three layers are then held together by epoxy resin, which should last a long time. Typically, the backing is made of black potch (a type of opal), but it can also be made of industrial glass and plastic. They are 0.5mm thick slivers of opal attached to a flat backing and glass-like dome top. Opal triplets are more common than doublets. ![]() Other popular opal body colors include green, brown, yellow, purple and gray. These occur in different colors, but those with a strong play of red, and lusters of orange, green and blue hues have big price tags.īlack opals are also very rare, and some from the notorious Lightning Ridge area of Australia have sold for $10,000 per carat. Solid opal is the most valuable or precious, especially those domed into a cabochon (cut into dome shape at the top and flat at the bottom). Opals can be split into many different categories, but generally, how much an opal is worth is first dependent on how it was formed. This is why opal is relatively easy to mine, and historically picks and shovels were all that were needed. Opals occur naturally in sedimentary rock and fossil, and are formed in cool, wet environments close to the earth’s surface. Most of the world’s supply of opal is found in Australia, but there are also productive mines in North and South American countries like the United States, Honduras and Brazil. This is still a huge factor when determining how much opal is worth, because natural is more expensive. Opals can be either natural, synthetic (lab-created) or imitated, but in this post, we’ll be focusing on solid, natural opal gemstone. The Virgin Rainbow was found in one of Australia’s most productive mines in Coober Pedy, and today, its home is the South Australian Museum in Adelaide. It glows in the dark, and the darker it is, the more beautiful it fluoresces. This opal is special, not only because of how it formed, but also because of its unique fluorescent properties. It formed as a fossil over hundreds of years and is considered one of Australia’s national treasures. This opal is also one of the most expensive opals in the world with a price tag of over 1 million dollars! In this post, we’ll discuss just how much opal is worth, explore how natural opal is graded and explain the value of opals: The world’s rarest opal: the Virgin RainbowĪccording to Forbes, the rarest opal in the world is the Virgin Rainbow. Rare black crystal opals can sell for thousands in their natural state, and can even be found in museums across the world! Opal can fetch such high prices that some stones are even more expensive than diamonds per carat! But when it comes down to it, people are willing to pay a pretty penny to get their hands on some opal. Synthetics try to mimic their beauty, and some do so extremely well. ![]() Natural opal gemstones can come in many different colors, from white to red to green and even black. Besides being gorgeous, one of the best things about opal stones is their color variety.
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