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| Home » Gemstones as Jewelry » Opals » The Andamooka Opal |
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The Andamooka Opal |
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The Andamooka Opal is a famous opal which was presented to Queen Elizabeth II in the year 1950. This was presented to commemorate her first visit to Australia. The Andamooka Opal was discovered in Andamooka, which is a place in South Australia. Andamooka is a historic opal mining town of the country.
The Andamooka Opall was cut and polished by John Altmann to a weight of around 203 carats (40.6 g). This opal displays a magnificent array of red, blue, and green color and was set with diamonds into 18 carat (75%) palladium necklace.
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Australia produces around 97% of the world’s total opal. 90% of the opal is called ‘light opal’ or white and crystal opal. White makes up about 60% but all the opal fields do not produce white opal. Crystal opal or pure hydrated silica constitutes around 30% of the total opal production. The remaining 8% is black and only 2% is boulder opal.
A major source of Opal in South Australia is the town of Coober Pedy. Another Australian town namely Lightning Ridge in New South Wales, is the main producer of black opal and opal containing a dark background . Boulder opal have concretions and fracture fillings in a dark siliceous ironstone matrix. It is found in western Queensland, from Kynuna in the north, to Yowah and Koroit in the south.
There are different other types of Opal are found apart from the Andamooka Opall. Fire opal, or Girasol, is a translucent and semi-opaque stone that is generally available in yellow to bright orange colour. They are sometimes found in red and displays pleochroism at certain angles.
Peruvian opal (also called blue opal) is a semi-opaque blue-green stone found in Peru which is often cut to include the matrix in the more opaque stones. It does not display pleochroism.
Some jewelry made of Andamooka Opal:
- Gem Shells
- Gem Dark Base
- Grade 2 Dark Crystal
- Gem Red Green Crystal
- Gem Dark Inlay
- Chips for Inlay
- The Old-Timer's Hoard
- Rare Honey Matrix
- Treated Matrix Opal
- Large Crystal Parcel
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