Buying Australian Opal From Pakistan: What to Look For

Hardly a week goes by without someone asking us for "Australian opal". Astrologers often name it when they prescribe opal for Venus, and most buyers have been told that Australian simply means the best. The reality is more useful to know than the reputation. Australia produces several very different kinds of opal, from some of the finest in the world to quite ordinary material, and plenty of what gets sold as Australian is not from Australia, or is not a solid opal at all.

Below we go through how to judge an Australian opal with your own eyes, which treatments and assembled stones to watch for, what to ask a seller, and how to buy sensibly online from Karachi or any other city in Pakistan.

The three Australian types you will come across

Australian precious opal formed in sedimentary rock, and each field produces stones with a distinct look and a distinct price level.

• Black opal: linked above all with Lightning Ridge in New South Wales. Its dark body tone makes the play-of-colour look intense, and fine black opal is among the most expensive opal anywhere.
• White and crystal opal: linked with fields such as Coober Pedy and Andamooka in South Australia. White opal has a pale, milky body. Crystal opal is transparent to translucent, so the colour seems to hang inside the stone.
• Boulder opal: from Queensland. Thin seams of precious opal grow inside ironstone, and the stone is normally cut with the brown ironstone left on the back as a natural support. Boulder opal can give strong colour for less money than black opal.

Identify the type first. Each one is judged a little differently and sits in its own price band.

Australian versus Ethiopian opal

A large share of the opal sold in Pakistan, our own stock included, comes from Ethiopia. Ethiopian Welo opal is often hydrophane: it can soak up water and go clear or lose its colour for a while when wet, then come back as it dries. Australian sedimentary opal is generally not hydrophane and is regarded as more stable on that score, which is part of why its reputation holds. Both are natural precious opal, and a good Ethiopian stone can show gorgeous colour. What matters is knowing which one you are buying and paying a fair amount for it. For Ethiopian stones in particular, see our upcoming post on real and fake Ethiopian opal.

Colour: the background and the flashes

Body tone

Body tone is the opal's background colour, running from very dark to very light. The trade often grades it from N1 (black) to N9 (light white). The darker the body, the more the play-of-colour jumps out, which is why black opal commands so much. Any decent seller should be able to give you a rough body tone.

Play-of-colour

Those flashes of spectral colour are what you are really paying for. Look at three things:

• Brightness: how strongly the colour shows. A bright stone flashes under ordinary room light. A dull one needs a torch before it wakes up.
• Range of hues: red flashes are the rarest and most valued, then orange, then green and blue. A stone that shows the full spectrum, red included, is the one everyone wants.
• Coverage: how much of the face carries colour, and whether there are dead patches that stay dull whichever way you tilt it.

Pattern

The shape of the colour patches counts too. Broad flash and rolling flash show big sheets of colour; pinfire shows tiny points; harlequin, a rare mosaic of angular patches, is the most prized of all. Always ask for a video. Pattern and brightness only really show when the stone moves.

Clarity and soundness

With opal, clarity is less about inclusions and more about whether the stone is sound.

• Crazing: a network of fine cracks that can appear when opal dries out. A crazed stone is worth much less and may break. Ask whether the stone has stayed stable for a good while since it was cut.
• Potch lines and sand spots: bands of common opal or specks of sandstone. Small ones on the back are fine; on the face they pull the value down.
• Cracks: any crack that reaches the surface is a real problem in a ring stone.
• Ironstone in boulder opal: expected on the back and sometimes patterned across the face. It should not cover up the colour.

Cut and shape

Most Australian opal is cut as a cabochon that follows the colour bar in the rough, so you often get freeform outlines rather than neat ovals. A skilled cutter leaves a gentle dome, which shows more colour, and enough thickness for strength. Very thin material is fragile and is often made into doublets. If you are buying a solid opal for a ring, check its depth: a stone with reasonable thickness is safer and, for anyone buying on astrological advice, also gives more weight.

Size and weight

Opal is weighed in carats like other gems, but it is a light stone, so an opal of a given weight looks bigger than a sapphire of the same carats. Astrologers in Pakistan often give the weight in ratti. The standard gemstone ratti is 0.91 carat, while the jeweller's sunari ratti is about 0.61 carat, so check which one your astrologer means. Our carat to ratti converter does the sum for you.

Solid, doublet or triplet: the question that matters most

If you ask only one thing about an Australian opal, ask this.

• Solid opal: a single piece of natural opal all the way through. This is what you want in a fine stone, and what most astrology buyers expect to receive.
• Doublet: a thin slice of opal glued onto a dark backing, often black potch or ironstone, so the colour looks darker and brighter. A doublet contains real opal but is worth far less than a solid stone and must be declared.
• Triplet: a very thin opal slice sandwiched between a dark backing and a clear quartz or glass dome. Triplets can look dramatic, but they are priced well below doublets and should never be soaked.
• Treated opal: some opal is smoke-treated or sugar-acid treated to darken the body tone. That has to be disclosed.
• Synthetic and imitation: lab-grown opal and glass or plastic imitations ("opalite") are all over the internet. They often show a pattern that is too regular, snakeskin-like or columnar.

To catch a doublet or triplet, look at the side. A straight join line between layers, a perfectly flat black back, or a high glassy dome sitting over a very thin layer of colour are all giveaways. A closed-back ring hides the join completely, which is exactly why you should buy opal loose, or at least see it before it is set. Our upcoming post on real and fake opal goes into this properly.

Claims about origin

"Australian" is the most valuable word in the opal trade, and for the same reason it is the most abused. You cannot prove origin from a photo, and a seller saying so is not evidence. A lab can often tell Australian sedimentary opal from Ethiopian volcanic opal, and can confirm whether a stone is solid, assembled, treated or synthetic. For a costly stone, ask for a certificate or arrange independent testing before paying in full. Our lab-certified opal page explains how that works.

Questions to put to any seller

1. Is it solid, a doublet or a triplet?
2. Which type is it, black, white, crystal or boulder, and what is the body tone?
3. What origin are you claiming, and what is that based on?
4. Has it had any treatment, such as smoke or sugar treatment?
5. Is there any crazing or cracking, and how long ago was it cut?
6. What is the exact weight in carats, and the size in millimetres?
7. Can you send a video in normal indoor light, turning the stone slowly?
8. Is a certificate available, and what happens if a lab disagrees with your description?

Buying opal online in Pakistan

Opal is harder to buy online than a faceted stone, because a still photo does a poor job of showing play-of-colour. A few habits make it a lot safer.

• Ask for video every time. A photo under a strong lamp can make a lifeless opal look lively. A video in ordinary room light shows what you will actually see at home.
• Look at several stones from the same seller, so you can compare brightness side by side instead of trusting one picture.
• Pay Cash on Delivery and inspect first. Opening the parcel before you pay lets you see the stone in your own light and check the sides for join lines.
• Read the return terms. Even a short return window gives you time to show the stone to a gemmologist.
• Be wary of bargains. Fine solid black opal is never cheap. A cheap "Australian black opal" is very often a doublet, a triplet or a synthetic.

Opal in tradition

In Vedic astrology opal is commonly worn as a substitute for diamond, is tied to Shukra (Venus), and is traditionally connected with the signs Vrishabha (Taurus) and Tula (Libra). These are beliefs, not promises, so take guidance from an astrologer you trust. Our opal benefits post and the Libra gemstones page describe the tradition in more depth.

Looking after opal

Opal is soft, around 5.5 to 6.5 on the Mohs scale, and it holds water, so it does not like heat, sudden changes of temperature or knocks. Wipe it with a damp cloth, keep it well away from ultrasonic cleaners, and never soak a doublet or triplet. Store it by itself so harder stones cannot scratch it. In a Karachi summer, that also means not leaving it on a sunny dashboard.

Opal at Authentic Gems

Every stone in our opal category is natural, photographed on its own and priced on its own, with the origin given on the listing where we know it. Many of ours are Ethiopian, like this 1.90 carat Ethiopian opal; set it beside this 1.60 carat opal and read the origin line on each. If you want an Australian stone specifically, message us on WhatsApp and we will tell you straight what we have. A certificate is available on request, and independent lab testing can be arranged. We dispatch from Karachi, where delivery usually takes one to two working days, and send on to Lahore, Islamabad and every other city with Cash on Delivery and a 7-day return window. For prices, see our upcoming Australian opal price guide.

Browse the stones: australian opal.

The beliefs in this article are traditions, shared for interest only. They are not guaranteed outcomes, religious rulings or medical advice.