Uploaded February 2014 | Updated September 2026, 8 hours ago
An Up Close and Personal look at Stunning gemstones from Mother Nature. This episode features a beautiful Ethiopian "Welo" Opal. It is a relatively new stone or rather "newly rediscovered. The Welo Ethiopia fields have only been operating since 2008. However, anthropologists believe that early man used opals to make tools as early as 4000 BC. Which means that Africa mined Opals before Australia.
Ethiopian Welo Opals are quite different from the more common Australian Opal.
Australian Opals are sedimentary in nature, forming in ancient sea beds. Ethiopian Opals originate from Volcanic activity. Volcanic opals are called "hydrophane" opals. They have the ability to absorb water and can even stick to wet finger much like gum.
The can change from opaque to translucent or even transparent. Sometimes this may heighten the color play or it can disappear completely. The color play returns once the opal is dry.
The most attractive of these opals are prized for their exotic patterns. Some patterns look much like Leopard spots and some specimens may have more of a tiger stripe pattern. This is also called a digit pattern.
Color play comes from numerous tiny silica spheres arranged in an organised structure. You see the color play when light hits these spheres and is defracted by them. The broader the light spectrum is, the wider color range you will see.
In the next episode we will examine the wonderful and also colorful Labradorite.
Subscribe to the channel to be notified when the next episode is uploaded.
An Up Close and Personal look at Stunning gemstones from Mother Nature. This episode features a beautiful Ethiopian "Welo" Opal. It is a relatively new stone or rather "newly rediscovered. The Welo Ethiopia fields have only been operating since 2008. However, anthropologists believe that early man used opals to make tools as early as 4000 BC. Which means that Africa mined Opals before Australia.
Ethiopian Welo Opals are quite different from the more common Australian Opal.
Australian Opals are sedimentary in nature, forming in ancient sea beds. Ethiopian Opals originate from Volcanic activity. Volcanic opals are called "hydrophane" opals. They have the ability to absorb water and can even stick to wet finger much like gum.
The can change from opaque to translucent or even transparent. Sometimes this may heighten the color play or it can disappear completely. The color play returns once the opal is dry.
The most attractive of these opals are prized for their exotic patterns. Some patterns look much like Leopard spots and some specimens may have more of a tiger stripe pattern. This is also called a digit pattern.
Color play comes from numerous tiny silica spheres arranged in an organised structure. You see the color play when light hits these spheres and is defracted by them. The broader the light spectrum is, the wider color range you will see.
In the next episode we will examine the wonderful and also colorful Labradorite.
Subscribe to the channel to be notified when the next episode is uploaded.
