Opal (highly colorful)

Item Description

Opal is one of those minerals that looks as beautiful and impressive when it is opaque as when it is water clear. The amazing range of this material (considering the simplistic chemistry) makes it a cool mineral, and that's saying a lot considering the species does not even have any crystal form !! A few years ago, the Wello (Wollo) locality in Ethiopia has produced some exceptional precious Opal specimens and gemstones. The highly desirable "Contra Luz" play of color and large "harlequin" patterning that can be seen in the top gems and specimens is comparable to the best of Mexican Opals and even resembles color patterns seen in Australian gems. This piece features a very attractive patch of glowing golden colored Opal at the center which is surrounded by a layer of intensely bright multicolor Opal which shows flashes of red, gold, yellow, orange and green sitting on minor matrix. Despite the smaller size, this piece has SUPERB color, and could end up being a great bargain for one of you lucky bidders out there who do not have a piece of this material in your collection. For more information on this locality, please check out the informative article on mindat.org by Jon Young ( https://www.mindat.org/article.php/1121/Welo+Ethiopia+Opal+ )