Opal, Queen of Gems

“Opal" [We sell Synthetic Opal] originates from the Latin word “Opalus”, meaning to gather the essence of every gem into one. [Synthetic Opal by Sanwa] The ancient Romans called opal the “Queen of Gems” because it encompasses the colors of all the other gems. To ancient Romans, opal symbolizes hope and purity. It is a gift granted by the heaven in bolts of lightning and unfolds the “Nature’s fireworks” before one’s eyes. The “Nature’s fireworks” is the charm of opal as there is shimmering prism that appears in the stone in a variety of colors. This is the unique distinction of opal - fanciful play-of-color.

There are many products called opal, but why they would not look the same?

Opal is an amorphous form of silica related to quartz, a mineraloid form, not a mineral. However, there is opal with or without color effect. Only opal with color dynamicity could be classified as precious gemstone and they are called “Precious Opal”. High-quality precious opal would have bright rainbow-like colors and while rotating; there will be various of magical brilliance and gorgeous color, with attractive color changes.

Among the opal categories, most of them are general opal, only a very small percentage of them are precious opal. Opal has various colors, such as black, grey, white, brown, pink, orange, yellow, green, blue & transparent, etc . In the jewelry industry, as general opal is in milky white and without any color change effects, its commercial value is not high and could not be classified as precious gemstone.

Non-natural opal

Non-natural opal generally divided into two categories, one is sintered with glass and only with translucent milky color and do not have any various color effects, they are collectively referred to as artificial opal. The other category is made in laboratory; they are referred to as lab-made opal.

The potential of lab-grown opal

Natural opal is known for its unique display of flashing rainbow colors called play-of-color. There are two broad classes of opal: precious and common. Precious opal displays play-of-color, common opal does not. Only a tiny percentage of opal in the world can be classified as precious opal. 

The scarcity and the high price of precious opal have limited its development. Natural opal is very sensitive to changes in temperature. They also have a crazing tendency. They “craze” or develop cracks as they dehydrate. Lab-grown opal does not have cracking or crazing problems and thus, offsets these shortcomings of natural opal, and further demonstrates the beautiful color change in different forms. The rich color pattern and the diverse cutting features of lab-grown opal also create many creative design possibilities.

Lab-grown opal has better conditions than natural opal to meet market demand and have a sustainable development prospect. Its popularity and commercial value have made it a favorable choice for designers.

"Play of colors" is a new highlight 

There is a never-ending quest for gemstone's sparkle. The emergence of a variety of synthetic gemstone has further realized everyone's pursuit of beauty. Lab-grown synthetic opal has a “play of colors” effect, which highly differentiates it from other kinds of synthetic gemstone; therefore, it is going to be a new trend in the fashion jewelry industry.

What is Japan Opal?

Japan Opal is frequently used by market to describe the synthetic opal which is produced by Kyocera Corporation (Japan company). Kyocera Corporation has first developed an innovative polymer impregnated synthetic opal in 1990. As company’s headquarter is located in Kyoto, this opal is then registered as a brand “Kyoto Opal".