Description and pricing information about Opals from Lightning Ridge Australia :
LIGHTNING RIDGE OPALS
We only select the best Opals from Lightning Ridge.
All of our Opals are solid, natural and are proudly cut and polished by our great team of experienced cutters and jewellers.We have chosen to only buy from Lightning Ridge, because it has been proven time and time again, that these Opals are the most stable in the world ( they have a low water content ) and have the best play of colours and patterns.
BODY TONE
The Body tone of an Opal is the amount of darkness inside the color tone and not the tone of the back of the Opal, although it can give you a pretty good idea of the body tone. Only the stones ranking from N1 to N4 are considered black opals. N1 being the darkest. N5 and N6 is considered to be Dark Opal. N7 to N9 is considered to be Light Opal. Anything lighter than N9 is considered to be a white opal. A crystal opal is translucent or transparent therefor has no body tone.
All Opals has a Brightness between B1 to B5.
How to evaluate opals
You can evaluate opals with a system of points, which take into consideration the Body tone , Colours , Brillance , Pattern , All lights and Shape, and then multiplied by the amount of carats.
A black body tone is usually the most expensive ! The brilliance is also a major factor when pricing an Opal.
But it all comes down to personal taste and what someone is willing to pay for that very special piece.
Even Opals with inclusions can be priced very high because there is a certain uniqueness to it.
Read about Lightning Ridge black Opals - description and information.