10 Opal Engagement Rings That Will Make You Forget All About Diamonds

[PinkDiamond]

From InStyle, there are some beautiful, and some very interesting takes on using opals for engagement rings in this piece, but the information provided for InStyle's readers makes wearing them daily seem like a good idea, with no caveat about opal's softness, or other perils like crazing from heat shock around the stove/oven, or even just stepping outside in frigid weather that can snap them in half; and what about hydrophane Welos in rings?

They're being sold all the time, and I even wrote to House of Onyx in KY not long after they hit the market, and asked Renee, their GG, why they didn't inform consumers about immersing the rings they buy in water, and she replied with nonchalance, and did not say they instruct their buyers, and since no treatment is mentioned, with their reputation I'm sure they're just as the came out of the ground, except for cutting and polishing.

As a matter of fact, this article fails to warn of any potential issues , and instead focuses on them costing so much less than diamonds; which as we all know doesn't even always hold true.

The rings are worth taking a look at, though, but IMHO, the designers who put them in bezel settings are the smart ones, although the huge white opal in vintage gold is well protected. With no link to grab, I can't show any of them to you, but the east-west black opal is gorgeous, and the big dark blue one must be spectacular to just gaze into and get lost in, so there are quite a few really nice ones among the bland white opals you can see little to no POC in. At any rate, they'll do for a quick opal fix. Enjoy!

10 Opal Engagement Rings That Will Make You Forget All About Diamonds



"I know they say diamonds are a girl's best friend, but I like to say opals are the hard-to-find soulmate that only comes around once in a lifetime. And these days, more and more modern brides are foregoing traditional diamonds and opting for opal engagement rings.

It's easy to see the appeal: Each opal is unique, changing colors right before your eyes depending on the light. Even Shakespeare was hypnotized by the beauty of the stone's changing colors, calling opals the "queen of gems" in Twelfth Night.

Some of the most popular opal stones appear to be a cloudy white hue with blue, green, red, yellow, orange, or purple flecks. But the base color of the opal can vary in shade. For instance, a black opal's background appears to be black (or sometimes blue or green), while the Mexican Fire opal's base is typically bright red.

The price point is even more impressive than the variety of shades; opals aren't nearly as expensive as diamonds. That's important if you're trying to save up for a house, pay down student-loan debt, or simply aren't working with a diamond-sized budget.

Ahead, I've rounded up 10 opal engagement rings sure to please any modern bride. ... "
https://www.instyle.com/fashion/accesso ... 34#3387934

[SwordfishMining]

Oh well. It will just give all "our" people more cred when we help them with the facts and tips. Shadow box settings for Candle stones are the ultimate protection.

[Shea_O]

Oh well. It will just give all "our" people more cred when we help them with the facts and tips. Shadow box settings for Candle stones are the ultimate protection.

Thanks for sharing this with us!

I feel the same way as you do - about the lack of transparency being a bit worrisome.

This reminds me a lot of the wildly varying quality of posts I see from individuals on social media platforms trying to sell loose opal stones. Too often there isn’t even carat weight or dimensions in sales posts! That’s like the #2 & #3 things to mention after either the price (if openly displayed) or the picture!

I like to follow a personal template of subjects when presenting a stone to someone. Some of the subjects I cover that matter a lot are body tone, POC pattern, POC brightness and whether the stone is an indoor or outdoor stone, how the stone behaves in bright/low light, the material the stone is formed in/of/around......and more subjects too..

Your questions likely went completely over their heads.

[SwordfishMining]

We try as we can. I'd like to point out that cracking and crazing was always complained about as a problem with Australian (We supply 95%) opals, not the Virgin Valley opals as that fields output was so low of a contribution, they did not even need to be mentioned as a source until needed to warn people away as some excuse to use. And Tiffany after they quit buying in the campground & after getting opal in wood claims by Gabbs, not Virgin valley, bad mouthed all of Nevada opal not bothering to say their buy was a bigger problem in production than what they could buy, but would not afford of dried rough. They all go for cheaper wet and expect miracles in drying huge. Then when the Ethiopian came on the scene with a bunch of play of colors like Virgin Valleys good stuff, there was enough to show off what not mined in Australia. We still are not in production as only jewelers are treating much for production. The final buyer really does not care that much about how it got to them, just that it will last not be like the great lie and fall apart.