How the Opal Color and the “Play of Color” Affects the Value of Opal
After the “kind” of opal, play of color plays the largest role in determining the value of an opal. Opals can show flashes of every color in the rainbow. That is what makes them valuable and beautiful. Some colors are rarer to see than others. Therefore, opals with those colors are more valuable. The most common opal colors are blues and greens. The rarest opal colors are reds and violets. Opals who have flashes of red and violet are more valuable. An opal that has red or violet will also usually have all the other colors as well, which adds to its value.
Here is how the range of color in an opal affects its value (Note: we compare among black opals for consistency. Also note, all of these opals are relatively high quality)
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| Less valuable: This opal contains only dark blue and green and green, the two most common and least valued colors. The price of a large opal like this would be in the hundreds. | Moderate value: Here we see more varied shades of blue and green which increase the value of the stone somewhat. | High Value: This opal not only has varied shades of blue and green, but also strong yellows and even some hints of pink. The added colors make this opal significantly more valuable than the previous (other factors being equal) | Most Valuable: This opal has the full spectrum of colors. An opal like this is very rare to find and would cost several thousands of dollars. |
Learn More About Opals
How the TYPE affects the value of an Opal
How COLOR affects the value of an Opal
How PATTERN affects the value of an Opal
How CUT affects the value of an Opal
Opal treatments and synthetics
Opal meaning and symbology
Opal myths and misconceptions