O’REILLYS Fine Jewellery, Watches & Silver Auction Timed Online Auction, Starts: Wed, 22nd Jun 2022 13:00

TIMED ONLINE AUCTION OF FINE JEWELLERY, WATCHES & SILVER • WEDNESDAY, 22nd JUNE 2022 AT 1PM UNIQUE AND BEAUTIFUL GEMSTONE 2 Opals are a unique and beautiful gemstone, displaying a very distinctive ‘play of light’ or ‘fire’ that is not seen in any other gemstone.These flashes of colour vary in strength and hue, The stronger the play of colour the more desirable the stone. The colours displayed affect the value and desirability; with flashes of red being more desirable, while green and blue are more common or less so. Opal is not crystalline like most gemstones but is made up of many tiny spheres of silica attached to water formed in a lattice arrangement. It is this arrangement that causes light to bend or refract and split into its component par ts much as you see in a rainbow.The 'fire' or flash of colours in opal is lots of tiny little rainbows.The size of the spheres determines the strength and hue of colour. The colour of the 'body' of the opal is impor tant too with 'black' opals (having a dark green, grey, or black tone) being more desirable than 'white' opal which has a lighter body colour.There is also 'water' opal which has a clear body and 'fire' opal which has a deep orange body colour with or without a play of colour. Fire opal comes from Mexico whereas Australia is probably the most famous source of other types of opal occurring in cracks and fissures in the ground. Opal was a symbol of fidelity and assurance among the ancients but unfor tunately suffered a bad reputation in the 18th and 19th centuries as bringing misfor tune and back luck, thankfully this superstition has faded as this stone really is a delight and wonder of nature. It is a relatively soft stone so must be treated with care, it is also porous so must never be submerged in water for long so do not wear it in the bath or washing up. There are many imitations on the market also so make sure to buy your opal from a reputable source.