The Many Colors of Opal Jewelery

Opal jewelery is very special as opals come in all colors of the rainbow. In fact an opal ring or pendant is never one color. The main color of the gemstone almost always flashes at least one other primary color. For example the pink opal will flash streaks of pink or blue. The black opal will flash fiery fissures of red. This dance of multicolored light across the face of the stone is called "the play of light." If you have been sold opal jewelry that does not flash fire than it is not really an opal. It is a beryl.

Opals are made up of a mixture of water and silica. Depending on what other trace elements are in the many crystals that make up the opal. the stone will be different colors. For instance a pink opal contains just a hint of chromium where as a dark reddish brown opal contains a lot of iron.

Not all opals display all the colors of the rainbow. This depends on the diameter and spacing of the spheres of silica and the water bubbles in the stone. The greater the space between the bubbles and spheres of silica the more colors the stone will display. For instance a pink opal ring with tightly spaced silica and water bubbles might only flash white but the same ring with a stone that has widely spaced silica and water bubbles may flash white, orange, yellow, purple and blue. In general the more colors that a fine piece of opal jewelry flashes the more valuable it is.
 

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