The defining feature of black opal is its primary hue. It is either black or dark blue, or grey, it must have a dark primary color. The next feature to consider is the stone’s “Play-of-Color” which refers to the shifting rainbow colors as you rotate the stone.  A fiery, bright red is the most prized color when dominant but all of the colors should be considered in their pattern and brightness.

Lightning Ridge in New South Wales is the most esteemed location of origin for black opal. Secondary sources include Ethiopia, Mexico and Brazil with smaller deposits found in Madagascar.

Like a rainbow that appears after a rainfall, play-of-color is a result of torrential downpours in a desert-like environment. Water runs down through the earth and takes silica from sandstone and runs into the cracks and fissures of the earth and when it dries it leaves silicate microns which
create the color spheres.

The name opal is believed to have originated in India and was called ‘Upala’ meaning precious stone.

It has been said that wearing opals if it is not your birthstone is bad luck. This is absolutely false and the source of this lore came from an unfortunate demise of a main character in the novel by Sir Walter Scott called Anne of Geierstein written in Victorian times.

Opal rates 5-6.5 on the Moh’s scale so it is best to store opal jewelry by itself as it can be easily scratched by most other gemstones.

Imperial Topaz – Natural Topaz comes in an array of colors including blue, green, yellow, orange, red, pink and purple, and much of it is even colorless. Imperial Topaz is the most expensive variety due to its relative rarity and has a beautiful reddish-orange to orange-red, brownish and pinkish color. It is 8 on the Moh’s scale of hardness just below corundum (sapphire and ruby) so it is very wearable.  It is mined in Ouro Preto in Brazil. Topaz, like Andalusite, is pleochroic;  it could show more than one color. It is also mined in the Ural Mountains and was named in honor of the Czars in the period where it was a highly prized stone. It has few natural inclusions, so it is usually eye-clean and is so versatile; it is seen in many cuts and sizes.

Zircon is a beautiful, natural gem that is found in many colors and is actually the oldest identified gem on earth at 4.4 billion years. It can be heat-treated to become colorless or blue, but in nature it mostly has tones of yellow, strong greens, bright red and earthy brown. Zircon can be a misunderstood stone because consumers mistake it with Cubic Zirconia which is a diamond simulant.

Zircon is known for its fire, especially colorless zircon as it shows even more fire than a diamond does. You can see it in other color stones as well, though it can be masked in darker hues.

Blue Zircon is found in many estate pieces from the Victorian times as it was often used in English jewelry in the 1880’s. George Kunz, Tiffany’s gem buyer in the last century, strongly admired Zircon and tried to promote it by giving it the name ‘Starlite’ in recognition of the
stone’s brilliance.

It is primarily mined in Australia and Sri Lanka and to a lesser degree Myanmar, Vietnam and Cambodia.

It is a great gem for jewelry, but its facet junctions can abrade so it is best to take care while playing sports.