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   About Ethiopian Opal

  Opal first discovered in Mezezo, Shewa province in Ethiopia in the early ***0's. Many of the Mezezo opals had transparent, darker body color, tending to orange to red to chocolate brown.

The “Wegel Tena” find appears to be a very significant one, with an unusually high proportion of gem-quality material. Even the miners are using rudimentary mining techniques.

The new Ethiopian opals range from opaque to translucent, but most of the high quality pieces are translucent. They display a full range of colors against a translucent white body color. Large patches of red and orange are common, and play-of-color is sometimes distributed along parallel columns that resemble fingers.

When immersed in water for a short period *- a few minutes to an hour *- many of these opals become quite transparent. This is typical of hydrophane opal, which is dry, porous and can absorb water without any damage to the stone and sometimes with no appreciable affect on the color flash. It is fascinating to watch this opal become completely clear when immersed in water. The process is fully reversible within a few hours, depending on the humidity and thickness of the opal. This phenomenon is prized by collectors.

This New Ethiopian opal is resistant to crazing, stable and durable However, because the hydrophane opal is quite porous, we recommend avoiding exposure to chemicals or cosmetics. Opal in general requires care,

We supply Ethiopian rough opals directly from the mining place.

Also we supply Ethiopian cut and polished opals directly from our own lapidary.