Opals are one of the most famous and popular semi-precious stones in jewellery and due to the variety of colours and patterns it's easy to see why.
Opals have been treasured for nearly 2000 years and thanks to their unorganised internal structures, which produce iridescent sparkles they can be worth more than some diamonds!
Opals are found all over the planet but the most famous ones come from Australia and Ethiopia, however they can also be found in Slovakia, Brazil, Mexico and the USA.
In the Middle Ages, opal was considered a stone that provided great luck because it was believed to possess all the virtues of each gemstone whose colour was represented in the colour spectrum of the opal.
Opals contain water and so don't like being in hot environments where they can dry out, if this happens they can dry-out and lose their colours and become transparent. They register as a 6 on the Mohs hardness scale and because of that are not an ideal stone to be worn everyday in your jewellery. It can be set in gold and silver an due to it's structure it can be cut in to almost any shape.
We have a lovely range of Opal rings, earrings and pendants in stock here at P.W.House and we would be happy to show you our range in-store. (All items shown are/were in-stock at time of writing)
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