Opal earns its place in Southwest jewelry by doing the one thing turquoise cannot: it moves. Tilt a good opal and the colour shifts — greens into blues, oranges into reds — because the light is being split inside the stone rather than reflected off it. Set next to matte turquoise and dead-black onyx in a channel inlay, that flash is what makes the whole piece read as jewelry rather than as stonework.
Two quite different things are sold as opal in this market, and you should know which you are looking at. There is natural opal — Australian boulder opal, Mexican fire opal, and the pale blue and white material used in cabochons — and there is the bright, uniformly patterned man-made opal that has been standard in Southwest channel inlay for decades. Both are used honestly by good silversmiths, and both are represented here. The man-made material is harder-wearing and far more consistent, which is exactly why it became popular for inlay.
We do not make a blanket claim either way across a collection this size. If you want to know what is in a specific piece before you buy it, ask us about that piece and we will tell you what we know about it.
How to judge it: look for play-of-colour that covers most of the stone rather than one small patch, and check the polish for crazing — fine surface cracks — especially on older natural stones. On inlay, the seams should be tight and level with no glue lines showing.
Our opal collection runs to more than 400 pieces in sterling silver and 14K gold. See also lapis lazuli and black onyx, the two stones most often set alongside it, or the full turquoise collection and the Turquoise Guide. 7257 East First Ave, Old Town Scottsdale, (480) 949-1101. Free US shipping over $99.