Black Opal Gems

Firstly, let’s understand what black opal means. Unlike what many opal lovers believe, black opal need not always be black, it surely would be worth nothing if it were an opaque piece of black. Opal is well known for it’s playful multi-color flashes and dances, this is known as play-of-color in gemological terms. An opal gem that shows this natural phenomenon is referred to as a ‘precious opal’. In some very rare cases, the play of color is seen over a dark base (background) color, this would be defined as a black opal gemstone. What needs to be understand is that, the dark background or base color of a black opal need not necessarily be black – you could see a dark grey or even a dark brown base color.

For the purist there are two gospel truths about black opal gems, the first is that they always come from Australia and more specifically from the Lightning Ridge area in Australia. The second fact is that, black opals are very rare and always very expensive. The brighter the play of color and the darker the background, the more you end up paying for the black opal.

Now if you today walk through any gem market in Thailand or even in India, you will see an abundance of black opals. To the untrained eye these are tremendous black opal gems, terrific color flashes, big carat sizes and scintillating. Had these opals been from the Australian mines, you would be lucky to buy them for anything less than 2,000 to 5,000 U.S$ per carat. Now talk to the vendor in the market and query the price, if you are asked any more than 20-30 U.S$ per carat in the retail price category for this abundantly available black opal – it is just too much to pay. So are these opals natural or are they from the brain center of China, man made look alikes. If natural means, opals mined from the earth and not cultivated in a sophisticated laboratory, you could say that these black opals are natural. But interestingly, these black opal gems were not born that way, they needed a little help from man to turn that pretty. And the opals come from the African nation of Ethiopia not from down under in Australia. So have the Africans started cooking gems and opals too, no they have not. The story goes that it was an Indian in Jaipur that first, experimented and found a way to make treated black opals from Ethiopian opal gems. The process followed is a secret but, much is known today. Sugar and smoke seem to be the main requirements to make black opal gemstones. If you go back to the 1960’s, you will come across reference to burnt sugar and even used machine oil, to treat opal gems! The enterprising Indian brought that knowhow and did some real curry pot tricks to produce black Ethiopian opals. The first crop of black gems that were freshly cooked, commanded extremely high prices even in the wholesale markets.

As word spread that the stunning Ethiopian black opals were treated, TV hosts and online media gurus started to swallow a few words, the marketing hype was forced to turn down its volume and prices tumbled. Wholesale prices today run for around 5 U.S$ to 8 U.S$ per carat depending on the visible beauty and size of the black opal. An Ethiopian wholesaler put an interesting question to us … why are these gems referred to as Ethiopian Black Opals, they were never black when they left that country!

Abundant black Ethiopian opal at affordable prices, will it end the monopoly of the Lightning Ridge beauties. Let us make this an easy explanation, it is best to presume that the natural black opal from Australia and the stones from Ethiopia that are treated black – are two distinctly different gems. It is not unlikely that, the Ethiopian (treated) black opals will show some lack of stability in terms of color and durability. Opal is inherently not a very tough stone but, the treatment applied to Ethiopia opals to make them black might, not give a permanent effect and could compromise the existing durability of the stone. Buyers who are willing to pay the Australian black opal prices today will surely, not settle for the cheaper substitute which, is treated Ethiopian opal. But for those of you who are merely looking at external beauty without, getting serious about any intrinsic value of the stone – pick the treated black opal by all means.

Black Opal Option: Many of you would be interested to know whether the claddagh ring can be crafted with a black opal gemstone. To begin with all jewelry from Claddagh365 and not just the historic claddagh ring, can be ordered with the gemstone of your choice. We can offer black opal from Australian or the Ethiopian black opal that has been treated. It is important for you to read the above report before choosing the treated black opal option. While the treated black opal option will not push up the price of the opal cladagh ring, a natural black opal gemstone from Australia could, add around 1,500 U.S$ to 2,500 U.S$ to the price of the ring. 

Claddagh365: A leading online provider of fine custom jewelry, we craft jewelry with your designs or ours. Some of the finest artisans and craftsmen work on both gold and sterling silver jewelry, delivering quality that remains largely unmatched. With expertise in both jewelry crafting and gem procurement, we allow our clients to choose gems for their jewelry without being limited by what is seen or mentioned on our website. Our experts at sales@claddagh365.com will be glad to assist you with any information or requirements that you might have.