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<p>[QUOTE=&quot;Any Jewelry, post: 316536, member: 2844&quot;]Congratulations Kavinda, looks like you have some Kalimaya opals from Banten, West Java, Indonesia.<img src="styles/default/xenforo/clear.png" class="mceSmilieSprite mceSmilie49" alt=":happy:" unselectable="on" unselectable="on" /></p><p>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.</p><p>I&#039;ve never known opals to lose much sheen in forty years, maybe it just wasn&#039;t highly polished to begin with. You can have it polished, but this softer sheen wouldn&#039;t bother me.</p><p>The little one looks like a Kalimaya as well.</p><p><br /></p><p>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.</p><p>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.</p><p>Kalimaya petrified forest matrix rocks:</p><p><img src="http://desainrumahsd.com/wp-content/uploads/07/12/ali-samiran-gemstone-akik-gallery-jual-karya-seni-dari-gemstone-bahan-batu-kalimaya-banten-black-opal-akik-gallery-jual-karya.jpg" class="bbCodeImage wysiwygImage" alt="" unselectable="on" /></p><p>The Indonesian opal seam is a continuation of the Australian opal seam.</p><p><br /></p><p>Forget Welo, there was no real opal mining in Ethiopia 40 yrs ago, and good quality Welo (or Wollo) opals weren&#039;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 &#039;Kalimaya opals&#039; are treated Welo opals. A pre-2008 Kalimaya is valuable, even the little ones have nice value.</p><p><br /></p><p>Lizard skin, etc. are names of patterns that appear in synthetic/lab created opals. I don&#039;t see those patterns here.</p><p>In Indonesia Kalimayas are usually called &#039;opal pelangi&#039;, rainbow opal. Other words may be added to refer to the base colour or the colour change.</p><p><br /></p><p>The pendant is absolutely gorgeous. I don&#039;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.</p><p><br /></p><p>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.</p><p><br /></p><p>Some of us have said it before, we would love to have known your grandfather.<img src="styles/default/xenforo/smilies/smile.png" class="mceSmilie" alt=":)" unselectable="on" />[/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

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