Fire opal

[orbaya]

I received a fire opal for Christmas and don''t know much about them. Are they as soft as the traditional opal? Is there a special way to clean them, or is it safe in my Salton Jewelry Spa?

 

[Richard Sherwood]

Mexican fire opal is actually a touch harder & tougher than Australian, which is a touch harder & tougher than Brazilian.

Avoid vibration, heat, sharp blows and abrasion against harder stones. I would just clean it with a soft cosmetic brush and Ivory Liquid Soap. Keep it clean underneath and it will exhibit that fine transparencey it''s noted for.

 

[valeria101]

Got me

Can we see it ? Just about any color of fire opal is so much worth a picture ...

 

[orbaya]

I''d love to show it to you, but I don''t know how to post a picture. It''s on my hard drive, and when I''ve hit "attach file" it doesn''t work. "Insert image" icon doesn''t work either.

Is there a FAQ or something that shows step by step how to post a picture?

 

[strmrdr]

I love fire/cherry opal.
I bought one for my wifey2b and had it mounted in a pin.

 

[strmrdr]

Here is a link to mine.. ummmm hers...

https://www.pricescope.com/community/threads/her-fire-opal.16647/

 

[valeria101]

Date: 12/29/2004 1:54:44 PM
Author: orbaya

Is there a FAQ or something that shows step by step how to post a picture?

There is a help page "attaching files" on this, and then, I can post it too of you send the picture at [email protected]

 

[Maxine]

I have what I thought was a fire opal (very 0ld - set in rose gold) - it is about 1/4 like a round ball almost, like a bluish (turquoise) color, but really shows fire in the sunlight! Someone said fire opals are not that color...so if so, I don''t know what it would be!

 

[valeria101]

Date: 12/30/2004 8:52:27 AM
Author: Maxine
a bluish (turquoise) color, but really shows fire in the sunlight! Someone said fire opals are not that color...so if so, I don''t know what it would be!

I don''t think I know any translucent material with play of color over blue. There''s blue opal, of course, but that can hardly be confused.

The more unusual "mexican" opal I know of may have slightly lilac body color, and there is the colorless contra luz opal that may appear blueish sometimes. Anyting like this ?

 

[Maxine]

More translucent looking....has bluish/greenish tine...fiery part on under side....set very delicately in old rose gold w/diamond chips round it ..VERY old....looks like it''s almost perfectlly round...like a BB....or tiny marble

 

[valeria101]

Date: 12/30/2004 11:417 AM
Author: Maxine
More translucent looking....has bluish/greenish tine...fiery part on under side....

May I dare ask for the usual pic ? The image above is not the greatest for the species and I could not hope to make anythig close. These are very hard to photograph sice the entire pizazz is an optical phenomenon itself (the color play).

 

[Maxine]

Valeria...did quick ebay search...color similar to items 4954830309 and 4954684184, neither of which was very pricey......

 

[valeria101]

Date: 12/30/2004 11:47:55 AM
Author: Maxine
Valeria...did quick ebay search...color similar to items 4954830309 and 4954684184, neither of which was very pricey......

I see... those at leats are australian crystal opal. You are lucky to have found an old piece: the main concern with these stones is that some of the material becomes crackled with age. There may be some way to guess which is the fragile kind, but nothing is safer than the test of time.

The value of crystal opal goes from here to infinity for all the good reasons. A high dome cab of stryking color (as you describe yours) and with good color play is not my idea of cheap stuff. Here''s a cousin:

 

[Maxine]

It looks very much like that! The "fire" being on the bottom! The old setting appears to be hand made...very delicate..and a size 6 or just under...the stone is less than 1/4 inch around...maybe 1/8 or a bit mor, and very rounded on the top, but flattened on the bottom, when I look up under the setting....diamond chips around it in almost a flower effect...Have to learn to use that digital camera........

 

[Maxine]

Valeria: PS: looks very much like the one in the pic...has no fractures, as far as I can tell..

 

[valeria101]

Date: 12/30/2004 129:58 PM
Author: Maxine
It looks very much like that! The ''fire'' being on the bottom!

Hm... "fire on the bottom" tells me that the stone has very clear body texture (like below) - more translucent than the picture. Even harder to find without structural damage! Congratulations for the wonder, of cuorse

 

[orbaya]

Date: 12/30/2004 5:26:46 AM
Author: valeria101

Date: 12/29/2004 1:54:44 PM
Author: orbaya

Is there a FAQ or something that shows step by step how to post a picture?

There is a help page ''attaching files'' on this, and then, I can post it too of you send the picture at [email protected]

Where is the help page for attaching files? I''m getting very frustrated that I can''t figure it out!

I''ve done searches and I STILL can do it. Neither way works for me and I have no idea what I''m doing wrong. My ring is on my hard drive and I know I need to get the photo onto webspace, but I don''t have any. I need detailed instructions as I''m not very good at this type of computer stuff!

Anyway, my opal is faceted and is more orange than Storm''s. His looked red to me. I don''t know anything about these stones so I don''t know if I got a good quality stone or not, but I like the color of it!

 

[currada]

Orbaya,

I had problems trying to post pictures from my hard drive also- my main problem was that I was trying to send pictures that were too large- pricescope has a maximum limit to the data being receieved. I don''t know if this is the long way to go about it but this is what I do. First I open the picture in any photo shop format- choose edit- and resize the picture (usually I edit mine by 50 percent) resave the adjusted picture as a jpg or jpeg file to my documents. Then I log onto pricescope choose attach file and browse thru my documents for the saved picture- choose the picture I want and then load the file. Make sure when you adjust the size so its below 100kb. Hope this helps....

Darlene