Ethiopian Opal Jewelry

Here you’ll find Ethiopian opals hand-picked by Heather of Hand Knotted Jewelry for their character - their pattern of fire, their play of color and their vibrance! She then commissioned Indian silversmiths to set them into the pendant, ring or earring mountings she envisioned for them. These pieces are *raw* silver (unplated) so they will tarnish. Many people love sterling silver for its ability to develop a patina of tarnish that lends an aged look to a piece, but if you prefer your silver bright and shiny, a gentle rubbing with a silver polishing cloth will quickly and easily restore its shine! Please email Heather if you want an opal of a certain size or with a specific pattern of fire, and she will hunt opals from which you can choose your very own stone! If you’d like it set in silver or gold, Heather will quote the total cost for you - or keep it loose as a specimen of one of nature’s most captivating gemstones!

Additional information from Heather

Why I Love It: I mean, come on! It’s opal! All kidding aside, opal is a beloved gemstone the world over, from prospectors to collectors to gemologists! I will limit the topic here to the two most popular and recognizable opal types, Australian opal and Ethiopian opal. Further down under “Information About This Gemstone” I’ll discuss what makes these opals different, even though they both have the enchanting plays of color opal is known for, including characteristics like “pinpoints” and “flashes” of colors. Although I’m limiting the topic to opals that come from Australia and Africa, opal comes from many other countries including Peru (solid pink and blue gems from opaque to semitransparent that are mined in the Andes Mountains), Mexico (fire- opals that are semitransparent to translucent and range in color from gold to red), Indonesia (such as colorful opalized wood fossils) and even the western United States (some of the finest black opals in the world come from Nevada!).

The word “opal” is believed to have its roots in the ancient Sanskrit “upala”, meaning “precious stone”. A later Greek word “opallios”, meaning “to see a change in color”, is possibly the best “origin story” for this gemstone’s name. Both words are completely appropriate as descriptors for this beautiful gemstone, so take your pick! I adore both Australian and Ethiopian opal, white opal and black opal alike! Presently, Ethiopian opal is substantially more affordable, but because it is far rarer than Australian opal, I predict that Ethiopian opal will rise in price as it rises in popularity and demand. I have Ethiopian opal beads, but I haven’t started to work with them yet as I haven’t yet gotten inspiration for a jewelry design. In the meantime, enjoy these lovelies I offer for sale, and if you want a bigger Ethiopian opal, loose or in a setting, or you want to hand-pick your own opal, just let me know and I can source it for you from among my Indian friend’s vast opal inventory! 

I try to learn a lesson from every stone I work with, and Australian and Ethiopian opals are no exception! I have a white Australian opal ring I inherited from my mom, and it’s probably no more than 2 carats but I love its tight displays of color. In addition to these two Ethiopian opal pendants for sale, I also have two pendants of my own that I wear on my charm bracelet, one white and one black (plus a big white Ethiopian opal ring that changes color depending on the humidity! Read why below!). The lesson to me is obvious: whether black or white or any shade in between, EVERY HUMAN BEING IS VALUABLE! We must not judge others based on the color of their skin, and we must never assume that one color is “better than”, more valuable than, more important than or more worthy than another. Rather, we must look beneath the surface at the qualities within each individual. Every human, just like every opal, is valuable no matter their size or shape, and according to their individual characteristics! So let us learn these valuable lessons from these “upalas” - these “precious stones”! - and let us learn about and from each other!

Information About This Gemstone: *Ethiopian opal occurs in the Wollo province of Ethiopia, Africa and is sometimes referred to as “Welo” or “Wello” opal (pronounced whay-lō or whell-ō). This beautiful gemstone is an infant in the gemstone industry, having just been discovered in 2008! Ethiopian opal was birthed after ancient volcanoes erupted and spewed forth silica-rich magma that formed into a type of light-colored granular volcanic rock, called rhyolite. A layer of gas-filled volcanic ash resembling the bubbly froth on top of rapidly-stirred glass of chocolate milk settled atop the rhyolite as it rapidly cooled. Then there were more eruptions, more rhyolite magma flowed and trapped the layer of gaseous ash beneath it. Then another layer of ash settled atop it, then another layer of rhyolite flowed, and so on until the eruptions ceased. It’s like a rhyolite-ash-rhyolite-ash-rhyolite sandwich! The trapped ash hardened into a very soft, porous type of rock called pumice. As water flowed through the pumice between the layers of rhyolite it deposited layers of silica, which over time formed into opals.

Ethiopian opals are amorphous, meaning they don’t have a defined crystalline structure; rather, opals are formed by  layers of tightly arranged hydrated silica orbs with air or water filling the spaces between the orbs. Mineralogists classify Ethiopian opal as “hydrophane opal”, or “water-loving” opal, because it ABSORBS water! (It also changes color depending on its water content, just like my large Ethiopian opal ring changes color based on the humidity of the air! The more humidity, the more my opal’s color “hides”, the drier the air, the more it shows off!) Although its ability to absorb water is one of its defining characteristics, it is not recommended to get this stone wet, as the more often it gets wet and dries out the more prone it becomes to growing brittle and cracking. Ethiopian opals occur in different opacities from solid white (thus resembling white Australian opal) to completely transparent, although most are equally and often more colorful than Australian opals! Their color comes from white light bouncing off the silica spheres within the stones, and the spacing between these spheres determines how color “plays” across the surfaces of the stones. A tightly-spaced pattern known as “honeycomb” (which resembles the individual cells in which honey bees store their honey) creates tight, contained flashes of color throughout a stone, whereas loosely-spaced spheres in a stone produce a wide, changing sweep of colors across the stone’s surface. The intensity of color is yet another variable in these beautiful opals, with a honeycomb patterned opal generally producing lighter flashes of colors like pink and soft green, whereas non-patterned opals produce flashes of colors ranging from vibrant magenta to bright green to electric blue! 

Unlike stable, nonporous Australian opals, Ethiopian opals require special care due to their porous and “thirsty” nature. In our lives, water is associated with things like hand soaps, hand sanitizer, and cleaning products and detergents, all of which can damage an Ethiopian opal and cause it to discolor. Because this stone literally drinks up moisture, be sure to remove your Ethiopian opal jewelry before applying lotions and perfumes. If you get caught in a sudden rainstorm without your umbrella but with your Ethiopian opal ring or pendant, however, don’t panic! Allow it to dry out naturally (don’t blow dry it or throw it into a bag of rice!), and your opal will regain its color as it dries. Ethiopian opal ranks between 5.5 and 6 out of 10 on the Mohs Hardness Scale of Minerals, which is approximately the hardness of a standard pane of window glass. In a protective setting Ethiopian opal is suitable for daily wear - just remove your opal if you plan to do anything that can bring your opal into direct contact with hard surfaces or objects. Clean your Ethiopian opal with a dry soft cloth. When not wearing it, store it in a soft jewelry pouch or padded box in a dark place that doesn’t experience extremes in temperature or humidity.

**Australian opal occurs where an inland sea once covered a large area of central Australia. The seabed consisted of silica-rich sediment (silica being granules of quartz). The sea waters at some point receded, leaving behind a giant basin full of silica sand (in geology, a basin is a depression in the earth’s surface resembling the concave area of a bowl. This Australian basin today is called “the Great Artesian Basin”). Over centuries, the silica was compressed by rain and wind and turned into sandstone. The sandstone was in turn affected by many decades of  heavy weathering, and as the softer surfaces of the sandstone dissolved, holes developed in the surface of the basin. These holes in turn trapped water containing the dissolved silicates, which over centuries more formed into opals. Silica-rich water was even trapped in the crevices of sea animals and previously submerged trees, which over centuries became opalized fossils! So the equation for the formation of Australian opals is essentially water + silica + centuries of weather = opals! As you can probably guess, an Australian opal contains an amount of water, anywhere between 3% and 10%. The amount of water an opal contains is determined during its formation. Once formed it is stable and nonporous, so Australian opal will neither lose water nor soak up water. However, an opal exposed to extreme temperatures can crack. Australian opals rank between 5.5 and 6.5 out of 10 on the Mohs Hardness Scale of Minerals, which is approximately the hardness of a standard pane of window glass. In a protective setting Australian opal is suitable for daily wear - just remove your opal if you plan to do anything that can bring your opal into direct contact with hard surfaces or objects. You can clean your Australian opal with mild soap and warm water and wipe it dry with a soft cloth. But NEVER put your opals in an ultrasonic jewelry cleaner as the vibrations can cause them to crack!

IMPORTANT NOTE! Just like many other gemstones, opals can be grown in a lab! They can be color-enhanced to have pink, blue and purple bodies, but they do not occur that way in nature! Before buying an opal, be sure you are purchasing it from a reputable source. Lab-grown opal can be just as beautiful as nature-grown opals, but should cost significantly less. So be sure your opal is what you want it to be (natural vs. lab-grown), and be careful that you don’t pay a nature-grown opal price for a lab-grown opal!

Fun facts: By comparison, you can say that Australian opals are born of ancient sedimentary waterways, whereas Ethiopian opals are born of ancient volcanic fire and ash! Also by comparison, Australian opals formed slowly over many hundreds of centuries, whereas Ethiopian opals formed as layers of  volcanic magma and ash quickly cooled. 

Although Australia and Africa produce the most opals annually, the United States supplies its share at approximately $100,000 annually. While most U.S. opals aren’t suitable as gemstones due to their poor quality and fragility, some of the finest black fire opal gemstones are produced by the Royal Peacock Opal Mine in Nevada - the only place on earth other than Southern Wales, Australia known to produce black fire opal! Note: “Black fire opal” and “black opal” are not synonymous and interchangeable. Black FIRE opal has a red, orange or yellow body/base color caused by the inclusion of iron oxide as the opal forms, has the characteristic plays of color that opal is known for and only comes from Nevada and Australia. Black opal has a grayish to black body color and generally occurs where white opal occurs, but is found in darker colored rough rock/matrix than white opal.

The largest gem-quality black opal was discovered in 1959 in a mixed bag of opal rough (uncut, ungraded opals) that had been mined in Coober Pedy, South Australia from the Eight Mile Opal Field. The bag of rough was purchased by John Altman and Rudi Cherny, who upon discovering the huge stone decided it was too amazing to be cut and left it “as is”. It is 99% pure gem (meaning it is only 1% matrix, which is the common rock from which it was mined), measures 11 inches long and 4.5 inches high and weighs a whopping 17,000 carats! John and Rudi named this historic find “The Olympic Australis” in honor of the Olympic Games that were held in Melbourne that same year. They submitted it to the Guinness Book of World Records, which declared it the largest and most valuable opal ever found - a record that stands to this day! The Olympic Australis was valued then at $1,800,000 and is considered a priceless piece of Australian opal history, and today is on permanent display at the Altmann & Cherny showroom in Sydney.