Did you know that 90% of the worlds Opal is found in Australia? You also might not realise that depending on which Opal mine you are at you will find very different types of Australian Opal. You can find black Opal in New South Wales, white Opal in Queensland and boulder and matrix Opal in South Australia and Queensland.
After the break I go over each of the different types of Australian Opal.
Black Opal - The Queen of Opals
Of all the different types of Opal in Australia, Black Opal is the most valuable with some stones being sold for over $15,000!
Upon seeing a Black Opal you will be st...
What is the World’s Largest Opal Matrix?
The largest Opal matrix ever found is a colossus of an Opal Matrix found in the fields of Southern Australia. It's an unbelievably huge stone of some 55,000 carats in size. Thats 11 Kilos of Opal, the same as 4 bricks or 4,500 penny's!
The Opal has the mighty dimensions of 30 centimeters long, 15-20 centimeters high and 4 centimeters thick. Uncut it's worth is estimated at more than a million dollars, but once cut up and made into jewellery the total value will be far greater! The previous largest opal weighed “only” 6,100 carats and can be considere...
If you are an opal lover but not so well-off, doublets and triplets might be your first choice. As you probably know, there are three categories of opal - solid opal, doublet and triplet. Natural opal or solid opal refers to the gem that is cut from a single piece of material, while doublets and triplets contain only a thin layer of solid opal. Solid opal is the most valuable of the three and therefore the most expensive. Doublets and triplets are made to resemble the solid opal and due to that fact they are significantly cheaper.
As the name suggests, doublets consist of a small amount of...
