Detailed information
Species
Opal
Dimensions
16 x 19 x 12
mm
Weight
3 g
Locality
Coober Pedy Central North, South Australia Australia
Condition
No recorded repairs
Precious Opal, the variety of Opal which displays a remarkable play of light producing flashes of rainbow colours is a rare gemstone with Coober Pedy in Central North, South Australia renowned as the Opal capital of the world. Usually found as thin 'lenses' within sandstone rarer still are replacements of Precious Opal after fossils. One of the most sought after of these are Opalized bivalve shells some of which can be of considerable size. This fine thumbnail-sized example is a wonderful example of this curiosity which overlaps between mineral, mineraloid and fossil. For those wanting a specimen guaranteed to be a talking point then this is surely it.
