Opal Beaded Choker
Opal Beaded Choker
A gemstone almost alive with an intense inner fire, opals have held the attention of humans for many thousands of years. From Egypt and Classical Greece to China and the Americas, ancient civilizations valued the beauty of opal, but it is only in recent history that we've come to understand the complex nature of this unique gemstone.
This necklace is beaded choker crafted with dozens of colorful opal beads across its length. Each bead is a unique and beautiful stone that can show blues, greens, yellows, and pinks. It's a fashionable piece that goes great with any outfit!
📸 CLOSE-UP OF THE OPAL BEADS
THE FIRE GEM
Opal is a common gemstone, but when it demonstrates play-of-color, this gem refracts light into a beautifiul blend of hues. This fiery iridescence has been prized for millennia, with opal appearing in ancient artifacts dating to 4,000 BCE.
The Opal Beaded Choker pairs well with any outfit, allowing you to show off your love of mother nature anywhere you go. Each choker is a unique combination of beads, each refracting light and combining colors in a completely unique way.
📸 ANDREA MODELING THE CHOKER
This stunning piece of jewelry made up of dozens of fine opal beads, measuring 17 inches. The necklace comes in a padded jewelry box and includes a small information card about the specimen. The card serves as the certificate of authenticity and can be found underneath the padded lining of the display box.
We only have a limited number of these fine chokers, so be sure to grab yours while you have the chance. Interested in more opal jewlery? Check out the collection below!
📸 Flooded opal mine in Slovakia
MORE ABOUT OPAL
A FIREY GEMSTONE
Unlike most gemstones, opal does not have a single crystalline lattice structure stretching throughout the material. Rather, opal is a collection of very tiny spheres of silicon dioxide which are packed together and compressed. Scientists estimate it takes up to five million years to form a single centimeter of natural opal.
The “fire” of opal is the result of diffraction as light passes through the silicon dioxide sphere within the stone. These spheres are aligned in an ordered network which continually diffracts the white light as it passes through each sphere and creates the shifting, brilliant colors we see. The result is a gemstone that shimmers in new colors at every angle.
Opal forms in areas where water comes in contact with sandstone and filters deep into the Earth, picking up more silica along the way. This silica-rich solution settles into cracks, natural fractures in the rock, or even into fossilized organic material. Under the intense heat and pressure, most of the water evaporates leaving the silica behind.
Further Reading
Eckert, Allan W. The world of opals. John Wiley & Sons, 1997.
“Gemstones of Peru.” Gems & Gemology 49.1 (2013): S1-. Print.
Leechman, Frank. The Opal Book.
Kear, Benjamin P., Natalie I. Schroeder, and Michael SY Lee. “An archaic crested plesiosaur in opal from the Lower Cretaceous high-latitude deposits of Australia.” Biology Letters 2.4 (2006): 615-619.
Keller, Peter C. Gemstones and their origins. Springer Science & Business Media, 2012.
Pewkliang, Benjamath, Allan Pring, and Joël Brugger. “Opalisation of fossil bone and wood: clues to the formation of precious opal.” Regolith, CRC LEME, Australia, h (2004): 264-268.
