19.38 ct White Opal - Freeform

This 19.38-carat opal is shaped as a freeform measuring 28.7 x 16.2 x 11.5 mm, with a white body color, sourced from Ethiopia.

Opal is hydrated silica that can break white light into a play of living color, a fire no two stones repeat; it holds up to a fifth of its weight in water, which is why it glows in a way nothing crystalline does. It is wholly untreated, its color finished by geology rather than by any furnace or enhancement.

A single natural gemstone with no duplicate behind it; once it is set or collected, there is no other. It will outlast everyone who owns it, which is most of what an heirloom really is. Hand-selected and photographed by Caveman Gems in good light, shown as honestly as a screen allows.