Black Opal Rings were first found in 1915 in Coober Pedy, a hot and dry area in the middle of the vastness of Australia.
Opals from Coober Pedy are mostly called white opals, but that doesn't mean they are all white. The white color is simply the base color of the stone, and countless wonderful bright colors will radiate through it from this base. Red, blue, green, yellow and all possible combinations of themes.
It differs from opal earrings from the Lightning ridge region of NSW Australia, which are called black opal. It just has a fire opal necklace base rather than a white base. The miners of Lightning Ridge like to tell you that their opal is the best opal in the world, and the miners of Coober Pedy like to tell you that their opal is the best in the world. So who is right? Both are because their opal is the best in the world and it doesn't matter what region it comes from. But opal looks different from each region.
An opal enthusiast, dealer or miner will instantly tell you whether it is a Coober Pedy white opal or a Lightning Ridge black opal and will be able to identify you from a photo without holding the stone. Sometimes opals from these two regions have so much in common that even an expert wouldn't be able to tell you where they came from without a thorough examination.
What is the difference between white opal and black opal? To understand this easily, imagine that you have a piece of red glass that you can see through. Lay it flat on a piece of white paper, then lay it flat on a sheet of black paper. The color would look different, wouldn't it? Some people would think that red on black looked much better than red on white, and others would disagree. This is the same as opal preference.
Sometimes you'll find white-based opals from Lightning Ridge, and sometimes you'll find opals that look similar to black opals in Coober Pedy. Is one generally better than the other? Definitely not. It will depend on the quality of the stone itself and it will not matter what area it comes from.
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