Tag: opal
What Gives Minerals Color?
What gives minerals color? It's an important question because mineral color is a primary way to identify minerals and assess their value. Mineral color...
What are the Birthstones by Month?
What are the birthstones by month? What is your birthstone? For as long as humans have been fascinated with precious gems, they have assigned...
Pink Opal: What to Cut
Pink opal, for many years, was found only in Peru. Then in 2011, Glenn Archer of Australian Outback Mining discovered a new find in...
Exploring the Royal Peacock Opal Mine
Royal Peacock Opal Mine got its start over a century ago. Back then, the cowboys and sheepherders in the Virgin Valley of northwest Nevada...
What to Cut: Aurora Opal
Aurora Opal is a homogeneously crystalized, synthetic, impregnated opal. Roy Goldberg, at Aurora Opals, describes this material as irregular and fine crystalline, with nondirectional,...
Iridescent Rocks: The Rainbow of the Mineral World
Iridescent rocks are familiar members of the mineral world that we prize such as opal and moonstone. With vivid colors and infinite variations, the...
A Rookie Prospector’s Tale
By Gary A. Monroe
I developed an interest in rockhounding a few years ago. I was watching a television show about hunting opals in Australia....
Connecting With A&S Opals, LLC
A&S Opals, LLC, is a sponsor of
By Antoinette Rahn
Fulfilling a Childhood Dream and Aiding Others
Adam Sawicki, the owner of A&S Opals, LLC, first discovered...
Outlaw Rocks, LLC: Family-Style Oregon Mining
Outlaw Rocks, LLC, is a sponsor of
By Bruce McKay
The first fire opal I met from the Opal Queen Mine was brownish, had no play-of-color...
Ammolite — Beautiful and Magical
By Jim Brace-Thompson
Although most gemstones come from inorganic minerals, a class of “organic gems” consists of materials created by organisms (plants and animals) and...
