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  

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