Opalite can make things difficult for people new to the world of opals. After all, it was specifically designed to mimic them! There are a few easy ways to tell, you just need to know what they are and you’ll be able to identify the material without any issues.
So, let’s get into it with opalite versus opal so that you’ll be able to definitively tell the difference!
What is Opalite?
Opalite is an opal simulant created from man-made glass.
A simulant is different than a synthetic. In the latter case, the gemstone is the same as the “real” ones, just man-made. Simulants are just meant to mimic the original.
Opalite is generally a man-made glass with a blue inner glow on dark backgrounds and an oranger one on light backgrounds. It often displays a cat’s eye effect as well.
Opalite is fairly well-known, it’s more often used for its own properties than because someone is trying to rip people off. It’s a pretty “stone” in its own right.
The name opalite is sometimes used as a name for common opal as well, but generally, the term has fallen out of use in that arena.
Opalite sometimes refers to the various other glasses which more closely mimic precious opal. These materials are often used by artists and they’re not very convincing to those who’ve handled a lot of opal in the past. That said, they are much easier to pass off than the material most commonly called opalite.
Related: Everything You Need to Know About Synthetic Gemstones (From Lab to Jewelry Box)
What is Opal?
Opal is an amorphous form of silica which is comprised of tiny spheres of the mineral all stacked together. There are two types of opal.
Common opal is an amorphous silica that doesn’t have quite the same structure as precious opal. It’s also referred to as potch, especially in fields where it co-occurs with precious opal. While it can be quite beautiful, its value pales in comparison to precious opal.
Common opal sometimes displays a minor sheen or optical effect, but it’s not guaranteed by any means. It’s not going to be a burst of fire, just a subtle inner glow.
Precious opal has a structure that scatters light. The created effect often looks like pinpoints of different colors on the interior of the opal. Low-end precious opal may just display a few bits of color, but the higher-end material will generally be almost solid in fiery, bold colors.
This effect is generally referred to as the opal’s “fire” in the gem trade.
Precious opal is one of the most expensive stones around, especially when it comes to black opal.
Related: 10 Different Types of Opal
How Are Opal and Opalite Similar?
Here’s where things get a bit goofy and its fairly easy to make mistakes as a newbie. You see, man-made glass is also made of amorphous silica. Chemically opalite and opal are almost identical.
Both materials also share the ability to create visual effects depending on the angle at which they catch the light. The effects themselves are different, of course, but it is a similarity.
In addition, because of their similarity in chemical structure, both have the same hardness sitting at about 5-5.5 on the Moh’s scale. They also share extremely similar specific gravities, although natural opal will generally have more variance.
Because of this, it’s easy to trip a newbie up when they’re looking into getting their first opal.
How Are They Different?
Well, opalite is entirely man-made, which is probably the biggest difference between it and common opal.
Telling them apart is easiest to do visually. While opalite may be able to barely mimic the very lowest grades of opal, they just can’t compare to any precious opal with a considerable amount of fire.
The big tell-tale is that opalite has a specific glow. Often, if the edges of a cab are beveled, it can even give a two-tone effect while sitting in one place.
Meanwhile, precious opals are absolutely wondrous. They may have large scales of bright color, a galaxy of pinpricks, or even just a few blotches of red, green, and blue on the interior.
There’s one other big tell, and it’s one that every rockhound should know because it can save you a lot of headaches in the future. It generally contains bubbles, although you may need a loupe to see them in some cases. Very few natural stones contain actual bubbles, although some inclusions look similar.
This is the best way to save yourself a headache when looking at cut quartz varieties as well, so remember it.
But what about the better opal simulants?
A Quick Guide to Telling Simulants from Opal
Some of the more advanced simulants out there can certainly fool people. These glasses are often cut and sold as what they are, because people will readily toss money hand-over-fist for a cheap black opal look-alike.
I’ve fallen for it early on in my rockhounding career, but as my collection of opals grew so did my understanding of them. If you handle a lot of these gemstones you can tell something is off with the simulants but you may not be able to pinpoint it.
And there’s wrong with them, as long as you’re not using them to scam people. I’ve cut them and used them in jewelry.
There are a few tells that are generally present:
- Opal simulants are generally made of glass and may contain bubbles. Look over the stone with a loupe.
- Most will have repetitive patterns, although this may be hard to recognize. Real precious opals have fairly random patterns.
- They’ll generally have a lower specific gravity. This is due the epoxy that inhabits many of them. The epoxy makes them stronger, but also a bit lighter.
- Anyone trying to sell you a slab of opal is trying to sell you a simulant. Precious opal isn’t the kind of material you slab, instead, it’s generally carefully cut out of the matrix before the cutter figures out a way to get the highest carat weight possible.
As for true synthetic opal?
That’s not a task that you’ll be able to pull off at home. The above should let you avoid or test for most simulants but when you get into true synthetics its a totally different ball game.
And most of all, if the price is too good to be true then you shouldn’t take the risk unless you really know what you’re doing.
