CONFETTI OPAL™ INFORMATION
CONFETTI OPAL™ is our name for a wonderful basaltic matrix
opal that was discovered in Mexico many years ago by a man named Alfonso Rosas Z.
Chopi. Alfonso worked the mine with his close friend, Ruben Reyes
Godinez. Alfonso had a great vision for this material. We honor him here for
recognizing the uniqueness of the opal material that he found and trying to bring this
material to the world market. CONFETTI OPAL™ is truly unique in all of the
world. Found only at this single location in Mexico there is no other opal material
like this in the world. The devoted grandson of Mr. Godinez has now accepted the
mantle and is trying to bring realization to Alfonso's dreams for this opal
material. He will be mining the material that is brought to the market in the
future.
Opal Opal is very pleased and honored to have been selected to be a
part of introducing the world to this fantastic new opal material. We thank those
responsible for allowing us to be a part of fulfilling Alfonso's dream.
The photos below show the opal being mined in Mexico. The exact
location of the mine is a well guarded secret. I can tell you that after an
extremely long car trip you are reduced to riding several hours on the back of a horse to
reach this location.
Once you arrive at the site of the mine and mining begins, it is very
difficult to find a piece of the opal that could eventually be used by a jeweler.
Literally tons of material are gone through before locating one single usable piece of
opal rough that is usable as jewelry. When you view the finished cut
opals, I think that you will agree that the opal acquired through all of this hard work is
well worth the effort. The rough opal is extremely difficult to acquire and the
finished cut opals are very rare treasures. Only a few very lucky individuals will
own one of these opals.
You can enlarge the photos to see a greatly enlarged view of the opal
being mined.
    
The opal material in contained within a volcanic basaltic
matrix that varies from brown to quite black. The matrix material contains vesicles,
or little cells, many, or most of which filled with material that eventually
opalized. Thus there are many little opal pockets of various sizes in this basaltic
matrix. There are almost always a few empty cells as well, which are visible as tiny
pits in the material. The opalized material itself varies in color and is sometimes
white, sometimes blue, sometimes almost tan, and various other colors which are influenced
by the play of color within the opalized material. There is bright play of color
within the opalized material which can be any of the colors of the rainbow. The
amount of opal material in any one spot varies with the size of the vesicle, so that there
are a variety of sizes of vesicles of opalized material throughout a given specimen.
Click on the photos to see an enlarged view. Notice that
the matrix is sometimes brown, can be quite black.
  
Enlarging either of the images below will give you a good idea of the
surface texture of this black basaltic material.
 
Doc and Liz McKay
Gold Rush Jewelry, Bead and Art Co.
Opal Opal
P.O. Box 635
Fairplay, CO 80440
719-836-2143
791-836-0831 FAX
All content is copyright protected ©2001 Gold Rush Jewelry,
Bead and Art Company
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