Is This a Regular Opal?

Black opals seems to have more diverse colors than this one, but I thought I'd ask here just in case. It's about 3/4" long and 1/2" wide. The frame looks like that gold filled wire they used to make name pins with.

The first picture shows the back of the pendant. I don't know why I didn't take a straight on from the front, but will do that if need be (got to anyway for the listing).

Thanks!

 

The setting is definitely 'wire wrapped'. Are the photos accurately showing what you see with it in your hand?

 

To me, it looks a lot like a lab created opal.

 

Yes, the photos are the same as what you would see in person. Looking at it closely, there's kind of an overall blue presence and then flecks of iridescent green.

 

Yeppers - lab opal. Gilson?

 

The way the colors are limited, as you noted, & the way the material looks the same front & back makes me think this is a man made 'stone' meant to resemble opal but not actually opal in any way. It may be similar in technique to 'goldstone', which is copper flakes suspended in clear glass. These may be silver colored flakes in blue glass. Expect it is very eye-catching.

 

I've seen the same opal in Native American pieces and some others. The Gilson company was in France and they made all sorts of faux/glass stones.

 

I hadn't heard of Gilson before so of course did a little Googling. They are credited with making opal simulants more like natural opal than any other. None of the photos I saw in connection with what I read showed material that looked like this IDed as Gilson. Theirs is quite a sophisticated process that produces stones with more color than this. It involves tiny 'spherules' inside, not flakes. I have also seen the 'lab opal' used in Native American work, own some. It too does not look like this.

Maybe we are just defining what qualifies as an artificial opal differently? I would never mistake this pendant for any kind of opal, whereas some of the fakes, such as the ones in NA work, can be very convincing. If it doesn't look like an opal to me, I wouldn't call it man made/artificial/lab grown opal. And perhaps 'Gilson' has expanded to mean 'artificial' the way brand names have a way of generalizing, like kleenex & bandaid, & is no longer confined to actual Gilson products?

Think we all agree that if the question 'is this a regular opal?' means 'is this a natural opal?', the answer is no.

 

I'd just call it lab opal and leave it at that. Gilson made some NICE stuff. The fakes I generally see are glass/harlequin opals. They don't look like the real thing, but they're pretty.

 

If it is a real Opal it could be considered a black Opal, or possibly Blue Fire Opal and could be very valuable. What throws me is the way the green is distributed, it doesn't look natural, but it very well could be. The green flashes look too uniformly distributed. Here are pictures of black opal for comparison......as you can see some of the Black opal is in a blue matrix like yours.....what the line between blue and black opal is, could just be opinion. I don't know for sure.
https://www.bing.com/images/search?q=black+opal&qpvt=black+opal&FORM=IGRE

And here is Blue Fire Opal. Blue Opal is basically Black opal with a lighter matrix. Any opal that was not white used to be lumped in as black opal....now the lighter colors are called Blue.

https://www.bing.com/images/search?q=blue+fire+opal&qpvt=blue+fire+opal&FORM=IGRE

 

Good points, above.

I know zip about this kind of thing, but would think that for a modern piece, the type of medal used would be a clue. Is there any chance the setting is gold?

 

BTW. you also need to look at it from the side to see if it is possibly a doublet or triplet. A triplet will have 3 layers. Onyx on the bottom, a thin piece of natural opal then a rock crystal dome.
A doublet will have a layer of true opal with the RC dome.

 

Looking at the setting, I see how it would be hard to get a side view. It looks like the setting was made to hide a doublet or triplet. if there is any way you can see the domed part straight on from the side, you should be able to tell if it is clear or not.
If clear, it is a doublet or triplet.

 

People were wire wrapping stones with brass,copper,silver,gold and gold filled wire 40 plus years ago.

 

Thanks everyone for the responses!

Yes, it is impossible to get a side view in even the smallest area because of the wire. Is a triplet more valuable?

 

No. Doublets and triplets are less valuable . They just use a thin layer of actual gem, and enhance it using the base and rock crystal top. Most value of course is a whole natural stone. Triplets can make white opal look like black opal by using onyx as a base, a thin piece of white opal on that , makes it look like black opal. Nice for a flashy cocktail ring, but not terribly valuable.

 

i think i have a couple of those...

 

Beautiful pendant. It would be worthwhile having it tested for gold.
Black opals have a dark ground colour, dark blue or black. This is not a black opal.
I'd call it a pinfire opal.
Tie-dye, am I right in seeing changes in the position/pattern of the flecks when at different angles? That would suggest a natural opal.
Since the back is also opal, I assume it is a solid stone, not a doublet or triplet.

 

VELLY INTERESTING...........and educational!!!

 

Lots of beautiful stones on those pages! I did see some black opals that were a bit more subdued in color like mine is; that's what prompted me to want to post here to double check.