Many people confuse “fire opal” with “precious opal”. So, here is a quick lesson on the three basic types of opal.
- Fire Opal is a variety of opal that has a bright yellow, bright orange or bright red background color. The stones in the first photo on this page are fire opal. They receive their name from their fiery background color.
- Precious Opal is a name given to any opal that exhibits “play-of-color”, a flashing display of spectral colors when the opal is “played” under a light source. The second photo on this page shows many varieties of precious opal.
- Common Opal is a variety of opal that does not display “play-of-color” and does not have a background color that would make it a fire opal.
The name “fire opal” is all about the bodycolor – fiery yellow, fiery orange or fiery red. It’s not about “flash”.
