When looking to purchase, you'll encounter four primary varieties, each with distinct origins and visual characteristics:
For centuries, opals faced a reputation for "bad luck" in Europe—a myth allegedly fueled by competing gemstone dealers to protect their own markets. This changed when became a devoted collector, gifting opals to her daughters and wearing them throughout her reign, which sparked a global fashion frenzy. australian opals to buy
Buying an Australian opal is like owning a piece of the "Great Inland Sea" that covered the continent 100 million years ago. These gems formed as silica-rich water seeped into cracks in the earth, eventually hardening into the "fire" that makes Australia the source of over 95% of the world's precious opal. The Legend and the Market When looking to purchase, you'll encounter four primary