A lot of Opal learning will come from time & experience.
And never be afraid to ask questions!
Did you know that not all depths & tones of the same colour are equal?
The colour guide from rarest to common in Opal are; red, orange, yellow, green, blue, purple
HOWEVER, there are many variables to the rules
Not all reds are created equal & this same rule applies to each hue
For example, you might find a Opal with red in it for a commercial price value, whilst others are much more exclusive in price range & rarity (Along with falling in the prices everywhere in between)
This rule applies to all colours
For a lot of the basic learning guides with Opals there is anomaly to the rule.
For this reason, everything is taken into account when grading Boulder Opals:
- Colour
- Colour combinations
- What are the prominent colours
- The body tone; a darker body tone often brings brighter more luminescent colours which is rarer than lighter tones (however, some light body tones are very rare)
- Brightness
- Colour depth/density
- Colour play; Does the colour have lots of movement, some movement, subtle, strong, solid in colour?
- Pattern/patterns; some pattern types are rare & add great value to an Opal. Some opals might have multiple patterns
- Directional, partially directional, not directional?
- Inclusions
- Stability
- Quality of workmanship; quality & standard of the cut & polish
- Supply & demand
- Size does not always matter; the above-mentioned points do. A large commercial grade Opal can be much cheaper than a tiny high gem grade Opal
