Photos of opal from around the world. Guidance for people who want to buy opal, see different types of opal, understand their names, learn about synthetics and imitations.

Crystal opals are often faceted to produce gems that have internal play-of-color and fire exiting from the facets. Photos shown here are a crystal opal cabochon with blue to violet play-of …

Composite opals are assembled stones that allow a small amount of precious opal to go a long way. They consist of a very thin slice of precious opal, mounted to a base (opal doublet), and …

One of the specimens shown on this page is a solid black opal with a strong blue face-up color play. It was mined at Lightning Ridge, Australia, the "Black Opal Capital of the World." It is …

Play-of-Color in Opal: White light enters an opal, interacts with the tiny silica spheres that make up its internal structure, is diffracted into its component colors, and exits the opal in a flash of …

Boulder opal is also known as "Natural Opal Type 2". Australia is the world’s most famous source of boulder opal. Much of it is in a brown ironstone with streaks and patches of precious opal.

"Pinfire opal" is a name used for opal that has pinpoints of fire throughout the stone. In the accompanying image, the white opal on the left is a pinfire opal cut from material mined at …

Faceted Fire Opal: These three stones show the color range of "fire opal," a name given to specimens of opal with a fiery background color. The orange and yellow stones have a sleepy …

What is White Opal? "Light opal" and "white opal" are terms used for opal material that has a white, yellow or cream body color. This is the most common bodycolor for precious opal. The …

Opalized wood is a type of petrified wood that is composed of opal rather than chalcedony or another mineral material. It almost always consists of common opal, without play-of-color, but …