16.50.05: Pink Opal

Last updated
Save as PDF

Page ID: 4948

\( \newcommand{\vecs}[1]{\overset { \scriptstyle \rightharpoonup} {\mathbf{#1}} } \) \( \newcommand{\vecd}[1]{\overset{-\!-\!\rightharpoonup}{\vphantom{a}\smash {#1}}} \)\(\newcommand{\id}{\mathrm{id}}\) \( \newcommand{\Span}{\mathrm{span}}\) \( \newcommand{\kernel}{\mathrm{null}\,}\) \( \newcommand{\range}{\mathrm{range}\,}\) \( \newcommand{\RealPart}{\mathrm{Re}}\) \( \newcommand{\ImaginaryPart}{\mathrm{Im}}\) \( \newcommand{\Argument}{\mathrm{Arg}}\) \( \newcommand{\norm}[1]{\| #1 \|}\) \( \newcommand{\inner}[2]{\langle #1, #2 \rangle}\) \( \newcommand{\Span}{\mathrm{span}}\) \(\newcommand{\id}{\mathrm{id}}\) \( \newcommand{\Span}{\mathrm{span}}\) \( \newcommand{\kernel}{\mathrm{null}\,}\) \( \newcommand{\range}{\mathrm{range}\,}\) \( \newcommand{\RealPart}{\mathrm{Re}}\) \( \newcommand{\ImaginaryPart}{\mathrm{Im}}\) \( \newcommand{\Argument}{\mathrm{Arg}}\) \( \newcommand{\norm}[1]{\| #1 \|}\) \( \newcommand{\inner}[2]{\langle #1, #2 \rangle}\) \( \newcommand{\Span}{\mathrm{span}}\)\(\newcommand{\AA}{\unicode[.8,0]{x212B}}\)

There may also be color striation as real opal will have color striation or unevenness of color due to the coloring. In the case of pink opal, it is colored by clay that surrounds it or it is usually found in, a mineral called palygorskite. Pink Opal has a hardness of 6; making the pink opal some of the hardest opal in the world. Some pink opal also comes from Mexico and some other places in the world. Some of the very top material is saturated with color actually making it reddish. These are rare pieces, There also has been a little drusy a coating of fine crystals on a rock fracture surface, vein or within a geode found in the pink opal but mainly for collectors and in small areas. The Pink Opal is high in silica in which this opal is almost a pink chalcedony but it is opal and has opal cleavage. There is never a water problem with pink opal and it is stabile.