Why is Australian Opal so expensive?

Australian opal has been known for quite sometimes globally to be so expensive. But why are they so? Well the first thing perhaps would be to understand the source and the reason for this. First, Australian boulder opal is mined in the harshest and the most remote location of Australia. The weather condition of this location is just too extreme. Very dry, hence reaching these opals is no walk in the park. Secondly, we need to understand the colors and splendor is found in the opal. The Australian opal jewelry is the most colorful of all gems in the world. All the coloration of the rainbow can be found in this amazing Australian boulder opal. Opal also an intense and mystical fire inside, which has really popularized it and in the process made it more expensive- for this reason, a fine example of an opal may be worth even more than a diamond.

The Australian boulder opal is something of beauty to behold, its array of colors change according to the angle from which it is looked at. These multi-flashes of coloration are known as opalescence. These colorings may be large in one color or small and large in another. The distribution and intensity of these colorful flashes are what gives the determination of its costing.

The opal stone is mainly found in Australia, where the mines supply up to almost all of the global opals gemstones. This is another factor that makes the gemstone more expensive as compared to the others. The demand for Australian boulder opal gemstones has over time been increasing, sometimes the demand beating the supply! Although some other countries produce about 5% of the remaining opal gemstone, they cannot be able to satisfy the market at large. Opal is also mined in Brazil, Mexico, and in a few US states, such as Idaho and Nevada. Recently, there have been finds of opals gemstones in Africa that is in Ethiopia and Mali.

Even though there are other cheaper versions of opal stones, those that do not display an array of coloration are relatively cheaper, but they are not very much in demand as the gemstone opals that display an array of coloration. The first one is commonly available, with the second one being rare and hence costly. The idea of any person purchasing opal gemstones is to have the display of color; hence they go for the expensive ones. The beauty is just too good to replace! Very few people would go for none dazzling cheaper option, for them owning an Australian boulder opal is just more than the name- They also put in consideration the appearance, this has made this precious stone to be more and more expensive.

Another factor that has made the Australian stone costly is the preparation that it takes in cutting it after mining. The process is custom done by hand; this is so to ensure that this delicate and beautiful gemstone is properly fit for the jewelry market. The attention that the opal stone is given is just amazing. It involves a lot of quality work that must be paid for through real pricing.

How can you see the difference between real and fake opal

For most of the opal stones lovers, telling between real and fake opal jewelry is an uphill task. The obvious sign of fake opal jewelry is that it can be easily differentiated with the real opal when closely examined under magnification. The pattern of coloration on natural opal as seen is arranged in a lizard or chicken wire format. The fake opal stone on the other hand does not fluoresce under ultraviolet light; they are basically lower in density and obviously very porous. As well as natural opal, all types can be synthesized for experimental and commercial reasons. This discovery of the ordered sphere structure of the precious opal gemstones led to its synthesis by one Pierre Gilson in the early 70s. Internationally, there are two well known producers of fake opal. Both of them are found in Japan.

It’s vital to note though that most of the so-called fake opal gemstones are more correctly termed copies, they have within them materials not found in natural opal a good example being the plastic stabilizers. Fake ones seen in vintage jewelry are often foiled glass, glass-based Slocum stone- silicate glass showing traces of sodium, magnesium, aluminum and titanium. or later plastic materials.

The so called fake opal gemstones not necessarily fake because some types are chemically same with the forming varieties. Others artificial gemstone opal types have an inclusion of both natural opal and other materials. On the other hand the fake opals are chemically and structurally look like natural opals gemstone, but these are made in the lab, not in the mine ground. These should never be confused with natural opals stones. The main differences between them are their color patterns, which are commonly more regular and exact. Also fake opal appears glassier than natural ones and is still considered to be real opals in some quarters.

Fake opal price is generally very low since they can be produced in large numbers at once while the natural opal is costly due to the fact that they are mined below the ground and take millions of years to form. The fake opals are actually made to resemble the natural opal. They are basically made from such materials as; glass, synthetic opal, or plastic. It’s vital to note that some plastics that have plastic binders are also called a synthetic opal which is very correct.

The fake opal can still make beautiful jewelry. They are not the natural opals, but there is nothing fake about the beauty of a well-made fake opal, and when it comes to jewelry, its beauty is really the whole point. But for those who love the natural beauty of the opal gemstone, then close observation of these stones would reveal to them whether they are natural opal or fake ones. It would be essential for them to have a scrutiny of the opal jewelry if they have any suspicious. Always make sure that you ask the jeweler queries as far as the suspicion opal is concerned. You might find the price to be quite too low than expected. This should make you do more research and clearly look for clues above to give a determination of whether the piece of jewel is natural opal or a fake one.