Things to keep in mind while buying Opal Jewelry

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Things to keep in mind while buying Opal Jewelry

• Opal is among the top five most popular gemstones
  in the world. Since Opal gemstone has a color
  changing property due to which it gathers
  attention of people, this is one of the main
  reasons for its popularity. Different gemstones
  have different properties and therefore there are
  different standards set to judge the value of
  gemstones, this enables people to check the
  standards before buying gemstone.

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Gems and their standards
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• As diamond is the top most loveable gemstone
  usually people check them via its clarity, color
  and carat and then select the best mix of cut
  according to their budget. When we talk about
  ruby and emeralds they have some natural
  inclusions and hence their standard can be
  examined in the form of their inclusion.

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• Ruby and emerald having a good color
  saturation property is a good option to buy. When
  we are looking for metals like gold first thing
  we do is to check its hallmark 10 k, 14k or 18 k
  and then decide which one to go with.

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• But when it comes to opal it become a little bit
  tricky since this beautiful gem having a color
  changing properly looks almost similar to the
  color of rainbow. Opal also have different types
  and among these it is difficult to decide which
  one is of a high quality .To clear all these
  confusions there are three useful tips with the
  help of which one can easily define which one is
  a good quality opal.

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Base body tone guidelines
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• Opal association has set some standards for
  opal stone that will help the buyer to identify
  the difference among different types of opals. So
  the best thing is to read these guidelines
  carefully and understand them before buying any
  opal.
• The term body tone refers to its color range
  from lighter to darker. While talking about body
  tone it is determined by checking its top and
  ignore the material that is at its back. For
  example for the black opal the body tone rank is
  from N1 to N4 similarly the rank is set for blue,
  fire and white opals.

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Brightness of Opal

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• Another factor that evaluates opals is its
  brightness. To measure this there is scale which
  helps to judge this. The brightness of the Opal
  is measured in the form of 1 to 5 as
• Faint
• Dull
• Bright
• Very bright
• Brilliant

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• The color of opal is affected by light, shape and
  the angle from which you are viewing this stone.
  The color of opal will be different when you see
  them in sunlight or under tungsten bulbs at that
  time an opal will display the warm tone colors
  therefore in order to see the original color of
  opal, the best thing to do is to check the opal
  on a sunny day. Place the opal at a position
  where the sunlight comes from your shoulder and
  does not pass through the opal. Meaning thereby
  that never judge an opal when it is in direct
  contact of sun or light.

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Size of an opal

• The size of an opal is calculated in
  millimeters and its weight is measured in carats.
  Like other gemstones it should have a calibrated
  shape so that it can fit in any jewelry design
  therefore for opals the calibrated shape should
  be 0.5 to 1 mm. In gems the carat weight is
  measured from its thickness more the gem is thick
  higher the carat weight but in case of opal it is
  totally opposite. Opal will become less valuable
  gem if it is thicker because it becomes a
  difficult task to fit opal in the jewelry if it
  is thick.