Featured Some questions on Opals...

Hi all... Season's Greetings...!

I went through some interesting threads here about Opals, so thought of posting a couple of questions i have on these Opals i got from my Grandfather.

Thought it's better to post all in one thread than creating separate threads.

Images 1 & 2

A black opal 12x8x4 mm. Is this an Opal Doublet or a Double sided opal? One side Shows a blue and green rolling flash pattern and the other side has i think what is called a 'digit pattern' or the 'honeycomb pattern' or the 'Lizard skin pattern'?? The polish of the stone is almost gone as it's 40 years or older.. can these be polished again? Had to take multiple pictures to catch the play of color.

Images 3 & 4

A tiny opal about 5x3.5x2 mm. One side has a green, blue and red play of color, The other side is just grey. Could this be a Welo opal?

Images 5,6,7

A White Opal and Ruby Pendant, The Opal is about 21x16x2.5 mm. Not sure about the gold quality. An Opal jewelry expert from AllExperts.com said that this could be a White Cliffs Opal NSW, from the first major Opal fields if this is 40 years or older. Would like your thoughts on this piece?

Image 8

Transparent Opal Earrings. Opals are about 11x7x2.5 mm. Are these called Crystal Opals?


Thank you for your time and Happy Holidays...

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Congratulations Kavinda, looks like you have some Kalimaya opals from Banten, West Java, Indonesia.
The first one is a solid opal, with just a lot of black on one side. As you say, it has flashes on both sides.
I've never known opals to lose much sheen in forty years, maybe it just wasn't highly polished to begin with. You can have it polished, but this softer sheen wouldn't bother me.
The little one looks like a Kalimaya as well.

There are different colours Kalimaya opals. The black ones are found in the petrified remains of a primeval forest that had been in a forest fire at the dawn of opal time. The lighter ones are also found in the petrified forest areas and near ancient river beds. Kali means river, Maya is the name of the river.
Kalimaya opals used to be reserved for royalty. In Indonesian tradition, the black ones are said to protect against black magic, etc, the light ones are said to attract divine love.
Kalimaya petrified forest matrix rocks:

The Indonesian opal seam is a continuation of the Australian opal seam.

Forget Welo, there was no real opal mining in Ethiopia 40 yrs ago, and good quality Welo (or Wollo) opals weren't found until 2008. Those are beautiful, but they are everywhere now, and many are smoke-treated to fake the valuable black Kalimaya opals. Most new 'Kalimaya opals' are treated Welo opals. A pre-2008 Kalimaya is valuable, even the little ones have nice value.

Lizard skin, etc. are names of patterns that appear in synthetic/lab created opals. I don't see those patterns here.
In Indonesia Kalimayas are usually called 'opal pelangi', rainbow opal. Other words may be added to refer to the base colour or the colour change.

The pendant is absolutely gorgeous. I don't know enough about the different Australian white opal mines to say anything about provenance. We have an Aussie opal lover here, maybe he knows.

The earrings look like jelly opals, with flashes in just one colour. If there are more colours, it is a crystal opal. Both are precious opal types.

Some of us have said it before, we would love to have known your grandfather.

 

Wow.. Thank you very much for all the info Any Jewelry..
I have never come across the term 'Kalimaya Opals' when i researched online so i thought these might be Australian Black Opals, and one source said rolling flash pattern is mostly seen on Ethiopian Opals, but you are right Opal mining in Ethiopia dates back to early 1990's so these can't be Welo Opals. I will research more on Indonesian Kalimaya Opals now.

One earring has only blue play of color and the other has only green play of color with a bit of blue on the back. So could be jelly Opals as you say..

Yes i too would love to have known him, I have no idea from where he collected these, probably from a foreign gem trader back in the day. Opal and Opal Jewelry are not at all popular here in Sri Lanka.

 

Those are beautiful opals! My wife would kill for those. Just as an aside back when I was working went to a house on a burglary call and the owner showed me his rough opal collection which was about 100 full quart jars he kept under his bed. The thieves never touched them.

 

WAIT................while I pick myself up off the floor!!!!!!!!

 

@Kavinda Vishan, what a gorgeous collection!!! LUCKY you!!!!! And the white opal and ruby pendant is just pure stunning!!!!! Thank you so much for showing us!!!!!!

 

Thank you @Aquitaine...

 

the while opal looks kinda like my little ones...

 

I don't know much about opals, but 1) wow and 2) we like your grandfather; he had good taste in jewelry!