OpalThere have been some very attractive and impressive Fire Opals that have come out of Ethiopia. Originally, the only locality we had was Wello Welo Wollo, but now we know they're specifically coming from Tsehay Mewcha. These gems rival the famous high quality Mexican stones for color, gemminess and the ever popular "Contra Luz" effect. This "Trillion Brilliant" cut gem has a beautiful colorless interior in transmitted light, but in reflected light it

but you don’t see pieces like this anymore

but it's still a very nice example of crystallized Feldspar from Colorado

The stone has some slight inclusions

single finger-shaped cast of Prehnite after Anhydrite with good luster on the display side

but they are certainly gemmy

Unlike some of the other major mines of the San Juan Triangle (e

and to top it off

or a phosphate collector

and even changes depending upon the angle which it is viewed

so a stone can break in the middle of the faceting process

A great rare gem for the collector

radiating aggregates of Vauxite associated with micro fibrous strands of colorless Metavauxite