hi I'm Steve Moriarty from Moriarty's gem art in Crown Point Indiana we
represent ourselves online as moregems.com - today I'd like to discuss with you
a new source of opals from Welo Ethiopia. once in a decade a new discovery of gems
presents an opportunity by extremely high quality at very low prices this has
been the case in the past with many gems including peridot from Pakistan in 2001
bi color tourmaline x' from Brazil in the early 1990s sapphire from Madagascar
in 1997 just to name a few when they are found for a couple of
years they are very inexpensive because of the quantity available as with most
finds the quantity is finite and as quickly as it is found it disappears and
the price inflates rapidly this situation is compounded as we see more
material on the market the popularity increases because of this exposure to
the public and this the band also inflates prices today we have one of
those unique opportunities to buy an extraordinary opal from Willow Ethiopia
discovered in 2008 the quality is finer than any I have purchased from Australia
up until now considered to be the finest opal source this Ethiopian opal is top
crystal material minas has high transparency
generally to consider to be the finest quality opal the transparent sea allows
you to facet carve or cap these Ethiopian opals the colors are evenly
spread through the entire gem and the intensity of the color is unreal as they
seem to float in the gym and project from the surface the number of colors in
a single piece is only rarely seen in Australia materia
and occasionally we even see violet which is so unusual an opal from any
source the color patterns are highly varied the large sizes available also
make this material unique we have cut gems over 40 carats with the average
stone well over 5 carats much of the material is hydro fame meaning that can
soak up water if placed in water the material will become glass clear and
when when removed it will get milky and after several days the material will
return to its original beauty what this means is you shouldn't swim with it
while washing your hands will have little effect the benefit of this
material is that the riskiest part of traditional opal from other sources is
drying out in cracking called crazing whereas this material will not craze
from drying out one way to identify hydrophone opal is a characteristic of
feeling sticky to the tongue or your finger this characteristic also affects
the weight which can change with humidity the porous nature of Ethiopian
opal has brought the Charlatans out who are trying to change the colors of the
opals through use of dyes and smoke treatments we have seen violet colors
from dying and although black opals occur naturally in Ethiopia
many are enhanced to black color with smoke treatments the color can and often
is enhanced by enameling in the back of the opal which enhances the color of the
Ethiopian opals that are that are highly transparent this treatment is easily
removed and has its benefits this is an acceptable practice assuming it is
stated when sold toughness is an arat another characteristic of Ethiopian opal
which outperforms other locations tests by the Gemological Institute of America
have shown that this opal is capable withstanding drops to concrete from four
feet without damage all other sources failed this drop test
Wilo Ethiopian opal is unique durable and currently plentiful and we highly
recommend this gem as a best buy at this time