2.63 ct Orange Opal - Oval

At 2.63 carats, this opal from Mexico carries its orange color through an oval cut, measuring 11.4 x 8 x 5.1 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 carries no treatment of any kind, so the color you see is the color that came out of the ground.

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 filmed by Caveman Gems in good light, shown as honestly as a screen allows.