OPALANIFine Australian Opal Jewelry

October's birthstone, cut from solid Australian opal

One-of-one rings and pendants in genuine Australian opal. Every stone certified for construction, body tone and mine.

The gift problem, before we get to the gem

Most October birthstone jewelry sold in the US is not what the buyer thinks it is. It is lab-created opal grown in a factory, or a wafer of real opal glued to a dark backing — a doublet — with a clear dome on top if it is a triplet. Both photograph beautifully. Both have a glue line, and the glue line clouds the first time the piece goes into a bath or a swimming pool. The person opening the box in October finds out in March.

I cut solid stone only. One piece of opal, all the way through, exactly as it came out of the ground at Lightning Ridge in New South Wales or the boulder fields in Queensland. It can be worn in the ocean, re-polished in thirty years, and handed down. That is the whole difference between a birthstone trinket and a birthstone heirloom, and it is why I won't cut the other thing.

What an honest one costs

A gift buyer with a date on the calendar needs a number before they will browse, so here it is without the runaround. Sterling-set crystal and white opal is the entry into real Australian stone. Dark and boulder opal sit in the middle. A Lightning Ridge black opal in gold is the top of the ladder, because rough black opal costs more per carat than most finished "opal" jewelry sells for.

If you find an October birthstone ring for forty dollars, nothing is wrong with the seller's arithmetic — it is a lab stone or a triplet, correctly priced. The arithmetic only breaks when someone charges solid-opal money for it. See what opal actually costs, type by type.

Available today

Pendants from
$180
Rings from
$250
Up to
$400

Every price is for one stone, cut once. Free insured shipping inside the US.

Buying it for someone else

Sizing: every ring lists the size it was made at. I don't resize opal rings — a jeweler's torch near a solid opal is a risk I won't take with someone's stone, and I would rather you had a ring built right than a ring stretched. Any local jeweler can resize one if you need it, but a ring resized by anyone else can't come back to me for a refund. If you don't know their size, buy the pendant. Nobody has ever needed a pendant resized.

Chains: pendants ship on a sterling or 14k chain, and the length is listed on each piece. Where a stone sits changes how it reads — higher on the collarbone catches overhead light, longer sits in shadow and shows its colour when they move.

In the box: a certificate stating construction (solid), body tone on the N-scale, mine of origin, and carat weight, signed by the person who cut it. Free insured shipping inside the US, tracked, signature on delivery.

Timing: allow two business days for me to prepare a piece and five to nine business days for US delivery. For an October birthday, order by the end of September and you have room to spare. Leave it to the week before and you are gambling on a courier.

Opal or tourmaline — October has two, and only one is worth keeping

October carries a second birthstone, tourmaline, added to the modern list largely because opal was hard to supply reliably. Tourmaline is a fine gem and a harder one. It is also a stone you can buy again next year, in the same colour, from the same tray.

Opal cannot be bought again. The play-of-colour in a solid stone is a physical accident of silica spheres that took millions of years to stack, and no second stone repeats it. That is either the point or it isn't. If you are buying for someone who wants the same thing everyone else has, buy tourmaline. Read the longer version in the October birthstone guide.

One of one, and October is when they go

There is one of each piece here. Not one style with a stock count — one stone, cut once, set once, and photographed as itself. If a piece is still on this page, it is still here. When it sells it moves to the archive and it does not come back.

October is the month the opal stock moves, and I say that plainly rather than dressing it up as a sale. If a stone on this page is the one, take it in September.

Questions people ask before buying

Is this real opal?
Yes — solid natural Australian opal, one whole stone, never a doublet, triplet, lab-created or treated. The certificate that ships with each piece states construction, body tone on the N1–N9 scale, mine of origin and carat weight.
What if I don't know their ring size?
Buy a pendant. Each ring is listed at the size it was made and I don't resize opal rings; a local jeweler can, but a ring resized elsewhere can no longer be returned to us.
Will it arrive before an October birthday?
Allow two business days for the piece to be prepared and five to nine business days for US delivery, insured and tracked with a signature required. Ordering by the end of September leaves comfortable margin.
Can they wear it in water?
Solid Australian opal is fine in water — rain, dishes, the ocean. Doublets, triplets and hydrophane Ethiopian opal are not, which is exactly why the certificate states solid.

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