

What this means is you shouldn't swim with it, while washing your hands will have little effect. If placed in water, the material will become glass clear, and when removed, it will get milky, and after several days, the material will return to its original beauty. Much of the material is hydrophane, meaning it can soak up water. We have cut gems over 40 carats with the average stone well over five carats. The large sizes available also make this material unique. The number of colors in a single piece is only rarely seen in Australian material, and occasionally we even see violet, which is so unusual in opal from any source. The colors are evenly spread through the entire gem, and the intensity of the color is unreal as they seem to float in the gem and project from the surface. The transparency allows you to facet carve, or cab these Ethiopian opals. This Ethiopian opal is top crystal material, meaning it has high transparency, generally considered to be the finest quality opal. The quality is finer than any I have purchased from Australia, up until now considered to be the finest opal source. Today, we have one of those unique opportunities to buy extraordinary opal from Welo, Ethiopia, discovered in 2008.


See Our Collection of Ethiopian Opal Here Ethiopia vs Australia The popularity increases because of this exposure to the public, and this demand also inflates prices. This situation is compounded as we see more material on the market. As with most finds, the quantity is finite and, as quickly as it is found, it disappears and the price inflates rapidly. When they are found, for a couple of years they are very inexpensive because of the quantity available. This has been the case in the past with many gems, including peridot from Pakistan in 2001, bicolor tourmaline from Brazil in the early 1990s, sapphire from Madagascar in 1997 just to name a few. Once in a decade, a new discovery of gems presents an opportunity to buy extremely high quality at very low prices. Today, I'd like to discuss with you a new source of opals from Welo, Ethiopia. Hi, I'm Steve Moriarty from Moriarty's Gem Art in Crown Point, Indiana. You can see a huge selection of Ethiopian Welo Opal here at

The reason it is valued is because the colors in the pattern are often incredibly intense. Honeycomb is a hexagonal pattern like the bees honeycomb. Change in body color to more reddish orange in highly transparent slightly orange Ethiopian opal has been seen on rare occasion. Being hydrophane it is absorbent and chemicals including hair products, dyes, oils and lotions should be avoided.
#Ethiopian opal how to
How to do you care for Ethiopian Opal? How is the stability?Įthiopian opal once cut is highly stable. The intensity of the color is what makes this opal valuable as the best Ethiopian opal have colors that are described as unreal looking like colored L.E.D. Like most gems the top quality material is quite rare and commands a high price. There is a large quantity of Ethiopian opal available which has kept the price low. What is Value of Ethiopian Opal? What helps value? How is supply effecting the value?
#Ethiopian opal free
Top quality gems will have color over the entire surface free of visible inclusions on the top surface of the opal. The price per carat of Ethiopian opal ranges from 10-250 per carat based on the intensity, variety and patterns of color. Ethiopian opal is more durable resisting breakage better than all other opal including Australian. Ethiopian Prices are lower and the sizes are much larger than Australian. Ethiopian opal is more available and generally has a wider variety of color especially reds. Ethiopian opal is hydrophane which prevents crazing which in Australian is caused by drying out of the water content which creates hairline cracks.
