KORIOT and YOWAH Opal - A Rising Star?

Filed under: About Opal — OpalPro @ 2:06 pm

Opal Books

Filed under: Literature — opalplus @ 3:15 pm

Educate yourself well! Opal books are essential and not only great entertainment but invaluable knowledge troves you won?t find else ware. Some great opal authors exist and their books have not only become rare and valuable, but offer an insight into opal and the Australian opal mining industry.

Often the better the book the more expensive it will be, however rest assured most of these more expensive books will appreciate in value. Remember, Knowledge is power, especially when it comes to opal!

Good Opal Publications:

This page displays books that have been written about opal. Its purpose is to make opal information and stories accessible.

Over the years, many books have been written explaining the origins of opal, giving technical mining information, telling stories about mining experiences and displaying photographs of beautiful opals.

For alterations or if you know of an opal book not listed here, please let us know.

Safety in opal Mining
Opal Miner?s Guide
A South Australian Project.
Project Officer: Sophia Provatidis
Published 1999

An up-to-date safety handbook focusing on opal mining in South Australia. This guide identifies opal mining hazards and shows how to overcome them.

The Opal Book - A complete guide to the famous gemstone
Frank Leechman
Published 1969
A complete work, looking at Australian and foreign opal fields. This book also looks at early days in the evolution of the opal industry throughout Australia.

Rediscover Opals in Australia
Steven Aracic
Published 1979 - 1999
An up to date, comprehensive look at all of the major Australian opal fields, with opal stories and hundreds of color pictures of opal, and mining in Australia.

Beautiful Opals - Australia?s National Gem, Special Collector?s Edition

Beautiful Opals Of the Desert

Beautiful Opals - Australia?s National Gem, Special 2000 Commemorative Edition
Len Cram
Published 1992 - 1999
Len Cram is a renowned photographer of opal, and his books are full of large beautiful color photographs of opals and entertaining stories from the opal fields.

Australian Precious Opal
Archie Kalokerinos
Published 1971 - 1975
Archie Kalokerinos was a doctor before becoming an opal miner in Lightning Ridge and Coober Pedy. His stories about those fields make for entertaining and interesting reading, and his photographs are excellent, particularly considering they were taken in the early seventies.

OPAL - South Australia?s Gemstone
Department of mines and energy
Published 1992
A technically oriented book, focusing on the South Australian opal fields, this book shows geological profiles of the opal fields, and discusses mining methods. Containing maps,and some photographs of the S.A. opal fields

Australian Precious Opal
Douglas Stone & Robert Butt
Published 1972 - 1976
This book looks at the main Australian opal fields, as well as some of the lesser known New South Wales and Queensland fields. Some color photos

Australian Opals In Color
N & R Perry
Published 1969 - 1986
A brief look at the major Australian fields, with some color photographs

Opals - Rivers Of Illusions
Alina Loneck
Published 1986
A technical look at opal with some color photographs

Australian Opal Safari
John Colahan
Published 1973
A look at the main Australian opal fields with some good color photographs of different opal mining areas.

Lightning Ridge
Ion L Idriess
Published 1940 - 1985
A Novel

Opals of the Never Never
Roberg G haill
Published 1981-1995
A book focusing on Coober Pedy, with some color photographs

Gan Bruces. His first book is now a collectors item. This new one holds promise of being just as successful. As usual Gan is a tad controversial and is bound to ruffle a few feathers. Still, having been born and raised, and spending all his life in Lightning Ridge gives Gan an insight that few others can claim. The human element figures prominently in this beautifully presented work about the opal fields. 416 pages.

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This excellently crafted collectable is the latest major work of Len Crams ?opal fields? series. Titled A journey into color this book opens up the full history of WHITE CLIFFS OPAL. With an absolute bag full of rare black and white photos and plenty of color, this gem is a must have. With 368 pages it has been very popular. By Len cram.

The Australian Opal Diary and Birthday Book. by Len Cram

With three pages for each month of the year, and every month featuring a famous opal field there is plenty of room for images and text as well as space for personal memos. An interesting book.

Beautiful Lightning Ridge - 100 years. Len Cram is intentionally respected for his wealth of knowledge on any thing to do with opals. Len has successfully captured the real spirit of his beloved desert opal country in his many successful books. This delightful production is 32 pages of Lightning Ridge history in a nut shell with a plethora of Lens own original photographs. A must for every rock hound interested in that natural wonder, OPAL. Len cram..
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What is an Opal?

Filed under: About Opal — OpalPro @ 11:09 am

Opal, from the Greek wording, “Opallos”, meaning ‘to see a change (of color)’, and is a non-crystalline formation of a silica gel substance unique to opal. Millions and millions of years ago, this opal gel seeped into crevices and cracks in the sedimentary strata formations. Through millions of years of time and nature’s natural heating and molding processes, the opal gel hardened. Today what may be found in the form of brilliant solid opals.

The Queen of Gems and the fifth gemstone, opal is set apart from other gems because of its unique characteristic appearance, shining sensational sparkling prismatic colors that roll and flash as you turn the opal. No two opals are exactly the same - ever!

Where Is Opal Found?

Australia is the world’s greatest producer of precious opal. Over 95% of the world’s commercial opal are dug from the desolate outback, where it was formed during the Tertiary period of some 15 to 30 million years ago. The history of Australian opal started as late as 1849 at a cattle station called Tarrawilla, near Angaston some 80 km outside Adelaide.

However, opal was first commercially mined at Listowel Downs, near Adavale, Queensland in 1875. This was followed by the discovery of light opal at White Cliffs, NSW in 1890, where the population exceeded 30,000 in its heyday. There is little opal mined there today.

The world famous black opal field of Lightning Ridge, NSW was discovered in 1903 and is still producing many beautiful gems. The discovery of light opal in 1915 made famous the name of one of the most hostile and remote places on the Australian continent - Coober Pedy.

The Different Varieties Of Opal

Opal is found in many different varieties and sub groups. Less than 5% of all opal constitutes precious opal, and of that only 5% is true gem quality. This rarity is much greater than is generally appreciated, as the annual production of precious opal is infinitesimal compared to that of other gemstones such as diamonds. Most opal found has little or no color play - this type is known as “potch”.

BLACK OPAL is the rarest and most valuable type. It is generally found as a bar (or bars) of various colors forming natural water horizontals in dark gray to black “potch nobbies” or “nodules”. Few realize that 99.9% of the world’s supply of this radiant, dark lustrous gem is mined at only two tiny pinpoints on the globe - Lightning Ridge and Mintabie.

BOULDER BLACK OPAL is a special type of opal found mostly in central Queensland. It is a curious formation of silica, which has filled the cracks and crevices in light and dark brown ironstone boulders. Invariably stones from Queensland are cut with the natural host rock (ironstone) left on the back.

LIGHT OPAL (sometimes referred to as “White Opal”) is not quite as rare as the black varieties, but is nevertheless distinguished by lively color play. As the name suggests, the stone ranges from transparent, translucent to opaque with a creamy hue, displaying soft pastel shades of color The “crystal” translucent type is vibrant with shafts of color in intricate pattern variations. A rare formation of “cloudy white” porous

MATRIX OPAL from Andamooka can be treated by soaking in a sugar solution and then boiling in sulphuric acid to deposit carbon in the pore spaces. The black body color thus produced enhances the play of colors, resembling a natural black opal. However, the dividing pattern lines are not as sharply defined as in a natural black opal. The surface penetration rarely exceeds one millimeter.

The Australian Opal Deposits and Opal Fields

OPAL SOLIDS, DOUBLETS AND TRIPLETS

Australian opals are the finest in the world. They have tremendous investment potential and are one of the few gemstones which have appreciated at a steady rate over the past 30 years. But before you race out and buy one, learn a little about them - how they come and what is available. They fall into three categories: solids, doublets and triplets.

Solids are natural stones which have been cut and polished without being interfered with. Many have a natural potch or iron stone back.

Doublets are usually two pieces of opal cemented together. They are made by cementing a layer of high-grade opal to a dark potch back, which enhances the color For economical reasons, many have thin faces. But domed cabochons made from good quality crystal opal, do in many cases, resemble fine quality black opal, which is due to the partial absorption of light by the black back. Their value is only a fraction of that of gem quality solid stones. Though not always encouraged by the trade as an investment stone, the better pieces do bring a reasonable price and are certainly worthy of a place in any good gem collection.

Triplets are doublets with clear domed caps cemented to their faces. The hardness of the cap used may vary from glass to quartz, depending on the quality of the opal. The dome cap protects the opal and magnifies the color and pattern, greatly enhancing the overall appearance.

OPAL FACTS, MYTHS AND GEOLOGY OF OPALS

Here are a few facts, myths and geology about that beautiful opal you have locked away in your jewel case. Firstly, it is a closely-packed array of millions of spherical particles of amorphous silica, stacked in a three- dimensional grating. Because of the special grating, it is the only gemstone known to man that has the unique ability to diffract white light into all the beautiful colors of the rainbow without the help of impurities. Impurities play no part in creating such beauty, as is the case with many other gemstones. Color is created when light is split by the voids which have been formed between the spheres. The size of the voids controls the angle of light and the color produced. To produce visible color, the spheres must be no smaller than 1500 angstroms for violet, indigo and blue, nor larger than 3500 angstroms for orange and red.

When viewing an opal, the most important factor is the relationship of the light to your eyes. To see opal at its best, the light must be coming directly over your shoulder. If you’re in a room using natural light, always stand with your back to a window or a door. If outdoors, stand with your back to the sun. Reverse these positions and you will be amazed at the change in the quality of the opal. With 96% of the world’s production, Australian opal suffers few of the problems which afflict opal from other parts of the world. This is mainly due to the fact that Australia’s opal has grown under totally different conditions - it is sedimentary, not volcanic.

Myths have grown up around opal - the most common being that you should never let oil or common household products come in contact with your opal while wearing it, as they will cause irreparable damage to the stone. This may be the case with volcanic opal, but not with good quality Australian sedimentary opal. On the other hand, an opal is a quality gem and is not meant for everyday, knockabout wear. Another popular myth is that you should soak your opal every so often in water. Again, if it is good quality Australian opal, you would be wasting your time. If you do go ahead and soak it, you won’t damage or enhance it.

The average Australian opals carry around 6% water, much of which is located up in the tiny voids between the spheres. Every 20,000 layers of spheres is equivalent to the thickness of a fine dot made by a ball-point pen, and requires an electron microscope to see them. Under these conditions the water molecule is held so tight that it is near impossible for them to escape.

A temperature of 60 degrees Celsius is required to start removing water from the first few outer layers of voids, and
to continue to remove it at its zenith rate of evaporation requires a steady temperature rise to 250 degrees. Should you wish to remove all the water from your beautiful opal, then you will need to raise the temperature to 600 degrees plus, for some time.

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Opal Pro Expert Opal Advice

July 16, 2007