Welcome to opalholicsanonymous.com where opal season lasts forever.

I had this ring for quite some time, it is inherited. I have always thought it was phoney but now I'm not so sure. Please tell me what you think. I assume it was bought in Arizona.

As I'm sure you already know, nothing can be positively identified from a photo. That said, it appears like it could be an LR black opal; possibly a doublet or triplet. If it's very old, it's likely to be a natural opal; however, without being able to see it in hand under magnification, we can't tell if it could be a synthetic opal.

What kind of magnification do you have, 8's? If you have a loupe or higher magnification you should be able to see into the stone, and if it looks like stacked columns of color, or kind of fish-scaley, I would suspect it to be a synth, and start looking for higher magnification for verification.

Whatever it is, it's a very pretty opal. Hope that helps, 8's, and let us know what you can see under magnification if you can.

Thanks Pink. The stone reminds me of Virgin Valley wood replacement. It looks like it should be transparent but of course it's not. I did a hot pin test it's not plaztic

I guess I'm talking to myself Upon closer inspection the opal looks like a Mexican Canterra, the color floats in the stone. I pulled out another Canterra in matrix and the opal looked the same, transparent when viewed from the side. So, now it is a clear Mexican opal with black glue used for setting.

crazy8s wrote:I guess I'm talking to myself

Welcome to the club. I make statements and ask questions all the time when I post articles, and no one replies except John and r2d when they can, and occasionally a few others, but rather seldom so it's very frustrating because the threads get viewed, but few, if any, ever bother to reply.

Is it just the top that's clear, or the whole body of the opal? If it's just the top, it could be the top of a doublet or triplet. Can you see any lines that might indicate the clear part is a cap?

If you still think there's a possibility that it could be a VV wood replacement, you might want to ask John to take a look at it for you, although I believe he's away right now so if you contact him expect to have to wait until maybe the weekend for him to reply.

I love reading your articles The opal is clear with the color floating in it, which is why I think it is a Mexican opal. I wish it was a VV.

Yep busy, busy. It does look like a Cantera as the "volcanic" color does float in the stone, but that being said, matrix if any is the telltale if it is Mex, virgin Valley, Czech or Brazilian to name the big 4 back then if new it would most likely be Ethiopian. if the setting looks cheaper its probably Cantera.

Colorful little bugger.

Thanks guys, To bad it's not comfy to wear after coming out. At least 15 years stashed away.