2.29 ct Orange Opal - Oval

At 2.29 carats, this opal from Mexico carries its orange color through an oval cut, measuring 11 x 8.8 x 4.3 mm.

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. Mexico is the historic home of fire opal, mined there since long before the Spanish arrived. It is entirely untreated; no heat, no enhancement, the color exactly as the earth made it.

Its exact combination of color, cut, and origin is its own, the kind of center stone you choose on purpose and build a piece around. Hand-selected and photographed by Caveman Gems in good light, shown as honestly as a screen allows.