Opals are some of the most unique gemstones on Earth. They range from milky white to fiery red and deep blue-green, and all have a kaleidoscope of shimmering colors within, called play-of-color. Here ...

Do you know what makes an amorphous blob of hydrated silicon dioxide -- more commonly marketed as an opal gemstone -- flash those pretty colors? It is made of glass beads spaced at about the ...

Red, orange, yellow, green and blue make up the contrasting colors of a 2.6 x 0.56-inch opal discovered more than a decade ago in Australia. Its contrasting colors give it the name Virgin Rainbow and ...

A beautiful opal called the Virgin Rainbow is currently on its way to an Australian museum, where it will be showcased alongside some other rare, valuable and otherwise precious items. The opal will ...

Few realize that the world’s most famous black fire opal – the official Nevada State Gem – was discovered in Nevada’s remote Virgin Valley in 1918. Col. W.A. Roebling, a civil engineer who helped ...