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 This section
will be used to
provide
interesting and
useful
information
about gemstones
and jewelry. For
example,
Emeralds
commonly have
inclusions in
them, but
gemstones in the
Quartz family
should be
inclusion free.
The stone on the left is a Blue Paua Shell. Some people like to advertise this as Paua Shell Opal, but that is misleading. Opal is a stone dug out of the ground, Paua Shell is the shell of a living animal - Abalone.
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There
are a number of
varieties of
opal, but the
one most people
think of is
Precious Opal.
Precious Opal is
the one that has
a play of
different colors
in it. This opal
is composed of
tiny silica
spheres and the
size of these
spheres and the
structure are
what cause the
play of color as
light passes
through the
material. The
picture on the
right is one
sample of
Precious Opal.
Other pictures
will be added to
the opal page
when it is
added.