Black Opal Gemstones: Meaning, and Healing Properties
Black opal Gemstones has the highest value and appreciation of all opals, especially from Australia’s renowned Lightning Ridge. During production, black opal stones often retain some common natural gemstone opal. Crafters strategically leave common opal on the back of a finished black opal stone. Common opal, also known as potch, enhances the body tone of a black opal stone and amplifies the brashness of other colors in natural black opal. Black opal’s ability to display intense colors makes it the most valuable of all opals today.
How Identifying Black Natural Gemstone Opal
The body tone of black opals makes it easy to tell them apart from ordinary opals. However, it can be almost impossible to tell a natural untreated opal from a synthetic, lab-created, or chemically treated opal. This is because, without proper laboratory testing and equipment, it is almost impossible to tell one from the other. As a rule of thumb, a black opal with too much color and too perfect of a pattern is most likely to have been processed. A natural untreated opal will always have imperfections, which is what makes it unique.
Black Opal Origin and Gemstone Sources
Almost 90% of the world’s black opal is mined in Northern New South Wales, with the majority of these coming from Lightning Ridge, Australia’s largest single source of black opal. Lighting Ridge has earned the title of ‘the world’s largest producer of natural black opal’ and extracts an incredible amount of opal year-round. Other sources of natural black opal include but are not limited to, Ethiopia. Ethiopian black opal, on the other hand, is often enhanced through smoke treatment, which darkens the body tone color of the natural opal. No other source or origin can match the quality and color of Australian black opal.
Buying Opal and Determining Gemstone Value
Black Opal Color
Black opals come in dark shades, from gray to black, providing a backdrop for a wide range of colors they can show. Despite being called black opal, they can display various colors.
Top-quality specimens are capable of reflecting the entire spectrum of color thanks to their special play of color qualities.
Black opal contains slight traces of iron oxides and carbon elements that are not commonly found in ordinary opals. The combination of these elements gives black natural opal its unique characteristics. Because of the dark canvas that natural opal has, it can distinguish and reflect much brighter colors than other types of opals. The most common colors in black opal are yellow, blue, and green, while purple, fiery red, and orange are the most precious and sought-after natural opal colors.
Opal Clarity
The clarity of black opal is usually clear to transparent, and almost all black opals will have eye-catching inclusions, such as spots or rows of potch, which is a common feature of most opals. However, with black opals, it’s the crazing that makes a piece worthless.
Crazing is caused by the drying process of opal, which leads to surface-reaching fissures or cracks.
Black opal should look wax-like, but without being too ‘plastic’.
Cut and Shape
In most cases, the final shape and cut will depend on the original rough of the opal. The most common shape of black opals is the oval cabochon, but many other shapes are very popular, including the teardrop shape and the trillion shape. The most common way to cut black opals is with a low dome. This is because natural opals have very thin color bars, and if the color bar of the opal is too thin it may be impossible to fashion a domed surface out of the stone.
Black Opal Treatment
Most Australian black opals are not treated. The country of Ethiopia is one of the main suppliers of treated black opals. The process of treating Ethiopian opal involves using an old smoking technique that allows carbon to pass through the stone and change the color of the opal. Recently, there have been reports of enhancements involving heat and sugar. The stones are first soaked in a solution of sugar, then dipped in a solution of sulfuric acid, and then heated slowly to change the body tone of the stone.
Opal Metaphysical and Healing Powers
According to an ancient Australian Aboriginal story, the Creator descended from the sky on a rainbow and sent a message of peace to all of humanity. The stones near where his feet touched the ground suddenly came alive and started to sparkle. It was believed that this was the beginning of the creation of opal stones.
It is said that opal stones bring creativity and originality. Because opals are porous stones, they are also quite absorbent. This means that they can absorb people’s thoughts and feelings and magnify their emotions.
Black opals carry powerful karma, which symbolizes justice and protection. natural opal is the official birthstone of October. Those who wear opal stones can benefit from its numerous astrological powers.
Opal Gemstone and Jewelry
There are several benefits of buying loose gemstones instead of preset jewelry. Once a gem is put into jewelry, it’s hard to see its true quality because the setting often covers up any flaws or imperfections. Also, buying loose stones allows you to have more variety and a better price than buying pre-made stock jewelry designs.
Black opals are a softer, more delicate stone. Black opals are very commonly used in men’s cabochon Gemstone rings. The deep, dark color of black opals gives a sense of manliness and mystery.
You can use black opals as a ring for any jewelry accessory. It can be used as a pendant, earring, brooch, men’s cufflinks, tie-tacks, and more.
When wearing an opal ring, it is best to opt for a protective style setting like a bezel design.
Care and Cleaning
- Opals have a high water content (up to 21% of the weight) and can easily crack if left to dry out.
- To protect opals, it is important to store them properly and avoid sudden temperature changes.
- To prevent opals from drying out, store them with a damp cloth, cotton ball, or sealed plastic bag.
- Because opals are soft, they have a Mohs scale of 5.5-6.5. This means that they scratch easily.
- Rinsing black opals with warm water and wiping them gently with a soft cloth is the best way to clean them. Avoid using bleach, chemicals, or ultrasonic cleaners as they may harm the stone.
- It is important to remove opal jewelry before performing chores or sports to prevent damage.
- There are no official methods for repairing damaged opals, and it is often better to replace the opal than to attempt to repair it.
- Common methods for repairing black opals include using polymer or resin to fill cracks. However, these methods are only experimental and may not completely restore the stone’s original beauty.
FAQs About Black Opal Gemstones
Black opal gemstones are highly valued due to their distinct iridescence and rich, vivid colors, which make each stone an uncommon and alluring piece of nature.
Colorful blues, greens, and flaming reds are just a few of the hues that black opals show. These colors frequently have an enthralling play of color that varies depending on the light and perspective.
Avoid using harsh chemicals on black opals and clean them carefully with a soft cloth to preserve their brilliance. Because they are more fragile than other gemstones, store them separately to avoid scratches.
Lightning Ridge in New South Wales, Australia, is the primary source of black opals and is renowned for creating some of the best specimens in the world.
Black opals are prized for both their beauty and positive energy as it is said that they will foster creativity, boost self-esteem, and offer good luck to those who wear them.
