and more fun...(sorry, most stones are not for sale!
As Slideshow / Photopresentation
These photos are about 3 by 3 mm of a stone.
Back / zurueck
Above photos are all of the same stone, it comes from Indonesia.
This photo shows the typical structure of dyed Andamooka Matrix

Inclusions in Opal are generally not desirable, but sometimes they are the cause of very special patterns. Here the pattern has formed around the inclusions of sand.

Now lets have a close look at that one:

It does have sort of a dirty, greyish look, but the patterns are excellent.

This opal must have had cracks millions of years ago wich were filled in with silica again, now it is a very special pattern.
Next is a nice multicolour pattern in a stone from Lambina. (No. 515)
This pattern I found in an opalised shell. It resembles to a pattern called "Chinese Writing".
Here the border between the patches of colour are very well defined.
This is a close-up of Inamori synthetic opal! It comes close, but compared to natural opal, it is not very interesting.
wishful thinking...
and more pics...