New Acquisitions - Opal
- Photography by Ken Larsen. Gift of Opalinda and EyaOpal, 2009.
Opals from Mezezo have been well-known for more than 10 years for their play-of-color chocolate opals. Other deposits discovered more recently from Welo yield precious white, fire, crystal and sometimes black opals. The opals you see here are a chocolate opal from Mezezo (8.86ct), and a crystal opal (33.15ct) and rough specimen (643.9ct) from Welo. Gem opal consists of tiny silica spheres tightly packed together; the voids or spaces between the spheres contain air or water. The play-of-color in opal is due to the orderly arrangement of these spheres acting like a diffraction grating, breaking visible white light in to separate colors. Opals are typically cut en cabochon or polished free-form to best show the play-of-colors. These beautiful Ethiopian opals are a wonderful addition and upgrade to the National Gem Collection and the first from Welo.
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