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<p>[QUOTE=&quot;Any Jewelry, post: 252672, member: 2844&quot;]Yes, they are man made opals. You will also find the terms synthetic opals or Gilson opals. You can tell when you move the stone a bit, or when you study several photo&#039;s of the same piece. Even though the coloured dots may not appear every time, they do stay in the same place, in the same arrangement, whatever the angle.</p><p>In a natural opal it is hard to find the same flash or pattern again, it keeps changing.</p><p>If the opals in your set were real, they would be classed as pinpoint or pinfire opals.</p><p>Native American jewellery makers use a lot of Gilson opals nowadays.</p><p><br /></p><p>Labs are still trying to perfect opal &#039;growing&#039;. There will probably come a time when the above way of telling the difference won&#039;t work anymore.</p><p><br /></p><p>These are fire opals, regular quality:</p><p><img src="http://geology.com/gemstones/opal/fire-opal.jpg" class="bbCodeImage wysiwygImage" alt="" unselectable="on" /></p><p><br /></p><p>This is a precious fire opal, gemstone quality:</p><p><img src="http://geology.com/gemstones/opal/precious-fire-opal.jpg" class="bbCodeImage wysiwygImage" alt="" unselectable="on" />[/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

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