Colourless Opal

“Tis that miracle and queen of gems,” so famously described by Shakespeare, actually refers to opal.

Opals are made up of tiny silica spherical particles in great numbers. Their colours are the result of light waves diffracted through these silica spheres. Pliny, a natural scientist of ancient Rome, noted: “For in them you shall see the living fire of ruby, the glorious purple of the amethyst and the sea-green of the emerald, all glittering together beautifully in an incredible mixture of light.”

Literally speaking, ‘colourless opal’ is a term that refers to the base colour of stones that are creamy or white. But in fact, it is a collective term for light opals, inclusive of light crystal opals, creamy white opals, moderate light opals and grey opals. Of these, crystal opals fetch the highest value.

Every colourless opal is unique and different in its own way. Given their scarce yearly outputs, the best of these stones are exceedingly rare and this determines their market prices. Their play-of-colour and unique forms, combined with their beautiful glitter, have provided jewellery designers with boundless inspiration while putting their intelligence and judgment of material choices to the test.