Ethiopian Opal Quality
A beautiful and incredibly popular gemstone is the Ethiopian Opal. The highest grade opal comes
from a reliable source, is consistently balanced in color saturation, and has little
contamination. Customers can learn the value of opal by looking at the international gemstone
market's usage of internationally recognized standards to evaluate opal quality. The origin of
the Ethiopian Opal has a significant impact on its value. The crucial 4Cs—Color, Clarity, Cut,
and Carat Weight—are used to assess an opal's quality. The best opal stone has a smooth,
immaculate, shiny surface and bright hue and comes from a reputable source. Opal, as mentioned,
is known for its play of colors. Hence some other factors need to be considered including an
opal's origin, type, the brightness of the fire, fire pattern, clarity, and degree of
transparency, which affect its quality.
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Type
: The Ethiopian opal market offers some stunning varieties. To choose a piece
that can have a good influence on your life, it is crucial to have a fundamental
understanding of these sorts and their main purposes. Most people buy white Ethiopian opals
for jewelry and astrological purposes. Some unusual gem options for healing and decoration
are Ethiopian fire opal, Ethiopian jelly opal, pink Ethiopian opal, blue Ethiopian opal, and
black opal from Ethiopia.
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Origin
: Ethiopian Opals were first introduced in the gemstone and jewelry industry
in the early 1990s. This variety of Opal originated from the Wollo Province of Northern
Ethiopia, specifically in the Menz Gishe District in the northern part of the Shewa
Province.
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Color
: Ethiopian opals come in various body colors, including white, black, orange,
blue, pink, colorless, chocolate brown (Ethiopian Chocolate Opal), and more. The most
important factor, regardless of color, is tone quality. Choosing a gem with the most
stunning, evenly saturated, and equally distributed body hue is always advised.
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Play of Color
: The Ethiopian Opal gemstone's fire has a rainbow-like appearance.
The intensity, pattern, and general distribution of the internal glow within Ethiopian opal
stones are used to assess its quality. The quality increases with the color play's
brightness and intensity. While the blue and green flashes are considerably more common,
stones with intense red, wide ribbon-like flashes, or a honeycomb pattern (Ethiopian
Honeycomb Opal) are more uncommon than the other colors.
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Clarity
: The appearance of Ethiopian opal ranges from transparent to opaque. While the colorless variation is expected to be transparent, Ethiopian black opals are naturally opaque. Therefore, evaluating transparency in Ethiopia is entirely individualized. A clean Ethiopian opal with few inclusions and few noticeable blemishes or scratches is ideal to purchase.
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Cut
: Ethiopian opal raw is typically shaped into lovely cabochons for jewelry manufacturing, which have a flat back and a smooth, rounded surface. Although loose Ethiopian opals can be found in various beautiful shapes, including pear, rectangular, square, cushion, marquise, heart, and more, they are most frequently found in round and oval shapes in the market. Only a small number of Ethiopian Opals are faceted; therefore, those with vibrant color flashes and good transparency are more valuable.
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Pattern
: Ethiopian Opal may contain play-of-color in different patterns such as large ribbon-like flashes, tiny pinpoints, multiple small flashes, honeycomb patterns, etc. Typically, Opals from Ethiopia with ribbon-like color patterns (Harlequin) and honeycomb patterns are hard to come across. They appear extremely beautiful and often draw a higher amount.
Ethiopian Opal Price
Natural Ethiopian Opal gemstones are surprisingly affordable; however, they won’t be forever. The other popular mines such as Australian Opal mines, are depleting now, causing a dramatic increase in their price over the year. There is good availability of raw Ethiopian Opals, which will certainly reduce with time, forcing a hike in its overall worth in the future. So, this can be a great time to invest in a piece of top-grade Ethiopian Opal. This gemstone is usually valued by its body color, clarity, cut, and carat weight. However, the distribution of the play-of-color effect also affects the beauty and Ethiopian Opal value per carat. Pieces with consistent fire visible from all sides and angles are quite rare and precious. In contrast, Ethiopian Opal stones with fewer or no color flashes are easy to find and are available at relatively cheaper prices. Ethiopian Opal can start from INR 1,000 ($12.52) to INR 4,000 ($50.08).
One can purchase natural and authentic Opal gemstones from trusted sources. GemPundit provides 100% natural, authentic, unheated, and untreated Opal for both astrological and jewelry purposes. Shop original Opal online with Free Gem Certificate. Also, find out the best price of Opal only at GemPundit.