GRADING REPORT OPCRY185
- Identification: Natural Unheated & Untreated Crystal Opal
- Carat: 1.85
- Shape: Oval One-sided Cabochon
- Measures: 11.26x7.82x4.23 (millimeter)
- Body Color: colorless / transparent
- Play of Color: Very Good+
- Pattern: Flame
- Clarity: Crystal - Free of Inclusions
- Cutting Grade: Very Good
- Finish: Very Good
- Depth: 54%
- Origin: Ethiopia, Welo
Treatment: None
Certificate No: IGI 296721357
Overall Grade: Very Good+
Comment: Welcome to the amazing world of opals. Some may argue opal is not just another gemstone variety, but a complete category to itself, like meteors or fossils, but I feel they are gemstones, a vastly more complex variety than, say, hit-them-again-diamonds, but let's not forget the universe of garnets or the life-long learning experience corundum can offer. That said, opal stands out, so much so that we must extend our grading sheet and still have not come close to cover all dimensions. Opals are, like normal gems, at least measured in carat, but there already we must pause: Our 1.85 carat give its owner 11x9mm of opal, a size for which we'd need 5-10 carats of cabochon ruby to fill the same space. Learning#1: Opal is an ultra-light-weight as far as gems go; you need only a few carats to get a full ring-size and 'big' becomes 'huge' for pendants. Let's jump right in. The next sentence will cover seven of the main quality criteria of opal: The crystal has no visible body-color, it is 100% transparent (but not the white/milky version) without any inclusions, and is adorned by a 'play-of-color' covering the complete rainbow-spectrum in flame-patterns with no dead spots. The last quality may be seen as the equivalent of the dreaded 'window' in facetted gems. A long sentence, yes, but manageable. One more time,with different remarks: 'play-of-color', THE unique opal show, in all rainbow hues, and presented in 'flame-shapes', as opposed to 'mosaic' or 'poinpoint' varieties, while the complete body can be caught in one color or the other at some point, thus no 'dead spots'. This is as much as I dare to squeeze on my first opal-comment to avoid information-over-flow syndroms. For jewelry: This is a fine ringstone, but all opals need protection. Understated with the clear body but therefore even more whiplashing when flames of red or green shoot over the gem (always better than in still-photos). Not too small even for a pendant. Yet affordable 'new' Welo opal from 'poor' Ethiopia, equal opal-quality from Australia costing a fortune. In our handshots, the play-of-color is milder and skin-tinted (as we know from light colored facetted gemstones). All our opals come with the usual extras, identical rules and the same good karma.
P.S. I added an image (in tweezers) to show the body with no color to give you an idea how fascinating the play-of-color strikes as it comes from this 'gas- or 'glass-like' element. One hardly ever gets to see it without any color at all, but in rare exceptions it can be colorless, absolutely transparent, and almost invisible. Then, pow, flashing green, yellow, blue and red at the slightest movement. Magic!
