this is not australian black opal i'm justin and this is black opal direct
my family have been teaching and exploring opel since 1961. click the subscribe button
and enjoy as we dive into the best gem in the world black opal g'day and welcome to
black opal direct my name's justin well today we're talking about something quite serious
uh we've had a lot of this new type or it's not really new anymore but it's a type of
opal that's been treated to look like australian black opal and in fact it's ethiopian opal and
it's a different type of opal to what you get in australia and this type of
opal is treatable so you can you can treat this stuff to make it look like black opal
and it originally looked like crystal opal so it's a hydrophane type of opal so that actually
liquids and substances can be absorbed into the the stone quite easily and all of these
opals in here were once crystal opals and white opals and they were treated to look
like black opals so here's something for you to look at the i did a couple of time lapses about
how quickly water can absorb into hydrophone type of opal and it's very fast in some cases and
takes a little bit longer on some other pieces so check this out you'll see the water actually
as i drop it onto the stone you'll see it just absolutely just start going all clear from the
outside and slowly making its way in now this doesn't take very long for some pieces so
you can imagine if you're wearing it on your body it's absorbing all of the body oils and fats and
over time it will change color now if you're having a shower with it it will also go clear
so be aware of that if you're going to buy that type of opal there's nothing wrong with it but
be aware of it that that could happen or most probably will happen now some people also treat
that type of opal so that it actually doesn't take on water and there's no problem with that either
as long as it's stated that it's been treated so very hard to tell very hard to prove now also
um i was sent a beaded ethiopian necklace the other day sent photos of it when it was brand new
and six months later after the person had worn it and i don't want to beat up on ethiopian opal but
unfortunately that beautiful crystal and white opal necklace turned into a brown opal necklace
and the reason it was is because the oils of the person's skin soaked into the opal
and now they're all brown opals and unfortunately there's nothing they can do about it and they
they were really upset and said they bought from a reputable dealer
in australia too and they said it was australian opel and it ended up being ethiopian not treated
but ethiopian opal and that is also fraudulent so if you do that with an australian
necklace you will find that it won't change because australian opal cannot take on treatment
unless it is matrix opal from andamuka there's been a lot of people selling this stuff online
um to the whole world saying this is australian black opal and in fact it's not and it's it's a
wrought because let me tell you a story i have a customer that emailed me the other day and they
had a they said they went to an auction house in australia and they went and bought some beautiful
black opals and here's the footage of the black opal over the top and they spent five thousand
dollars on this opal and they wanted my opinion on whether it was nice opal and as soon as i saw
it i said guys this is not australian opal that's that's treated ethiopian opal it's only worth a
few hundred dollars or less you know so we need to get this sorted out and tested so that you can get
your money back from that auction house now the auction house totally said they would if we can
prove that it's not australian opal so i sent the opal to tony smallwood and he's the guy who also
um tested the rainbow serpent way back when and he came back with yes it's definitely treated
ethiopian so my friends who spent five thousand dollars on these two stones got their money back
now this is happening everywhere and you there are a few things that you really need to look out for
to make sure you don't end up with this rather than black opal so let's go through a few a few
traits of this stuff so that you can get a better idea or clearer feeling when you see
an opal online or you see an opal anywhere that they're not trying to pull the wool over your eyes
all right so there's a few traits about this type of opal that you really need to look out for and
with this stuff you can see that the polish on them is not a high high polish you'll find
that there's a lot of little ripples and you will notice that if you look with a loop very closely
it's it just doesn't take a great polish so um that's one thing that you can look for number two
most of these stones are double-sided so they're polished or they have opal color on both sides
now that can happen with normal and natural australian black opal or crystal opal as well
but this is very very easy to tell that it's not australian
you will find that many of the pieces still also have a terrible polish on the back as well
and the way they cut is they have a very sharp edge from the from the dome to the back
so it's kind of a way that they cut as well that's also a giveaway
also with the opals that look like beautiful red on blacks they they have a pattern which is quite
interesting it's it's a different type of pattern to australian black opal um where when you move
it around it shows sparkles here and there like it shows flecks of color but there's a lot of
blackness to it like too much blackness to it and if it is really really dark it's a it's a red flag
straight away and every one of these pieces that i'm looking at here are around the n1 n2 so really
really dark pieces and when you put them up against a really top gem black opal like this
there is no comparison like none whatsoever and you can really tell also the greens in a treated
ethiopian opal the greens are a really distinct type of green and you'll be able to tell if you
look at quite a few of them also you can see in some of the stones that there is potch in
the in the color and a lot of ethiopian opals have a patch called honeycomb where the flakes
of color come through the potch and you can see it in one of these there's a really good example
of of that honeycomb sort of potch which is a really dead giveaway because nothing in australia
produces that honeycomb sort of a potch also if you hold it up to the light you will find
that the thing is like a tinted piece of glass you will be able to see through it
most of the time um quite clearly and uh yeah so every single one of these
stains if i hold them up to the light i can actually see through them and it's not just
not just one it's all of them so you do have to also hold them up to the light and check them out
we want to stomp this out because this is becoming terrible for you as a consumer that you are buying
this type of opal and you don't know so i want to make something really clear here
about the gemstones in question i have nothing against any type of gemstone out there there is
some beautiful opals diamonds moistenites whatever there is a market for every type of gemstone
and that's not what i'm getting at in this video what i'm getting at is the
misrepresentation of a gemstone pretending to be another type and that is fraudulent it's like
pretty much like saying i'm i've bought this watch because it's waterproof but then when
i went for a swim the water got into it so what can you do to avoid purchasing this type of opal
and there's really only uh unless you know about the opal and you can tell yourself um there's only
one thing you can do and that is to buy from a reputable dealer that's been around for many years
now if you're looking for the bargain that some person on facebook marketplace
is selling some opal calling it black opal and you think you're going to get yourself a deal
well think again nowadays it is really risky that you're buying an ethiopian black opal and not
a traditional gem black opal from australia so you be careful please it is it's heartbreaking every
week i get somebody saying i bought some opal and now i don't know if it's australian or i've bought
some opal and it's i got it wet and it changed color and the representation of that opal so
the person selling you that opal should be telling you where it's from if it's treated its origin all
that sort of stuff before you buy and if they're not telling you the truth then it is fraudulent
and you should try and get your money back it's a really really hard one i'm um i'm really sad that
people are doing this sort of stuff because it's it's not great for the industry it makes people
feel scared to purchase so uh if you are going to buy, buy from the dealers that know opal and have
been around for years and i don't mean just me i mean there's many good quality dealers
out there to buy from just do your homework thanks for watching and i'll see you next time
you