opal or ???

[BosnMate]

My father was a rock person, and I'm not. He used to make jewelry and had lots of stuff, saw, silver for jewelry and such, but when he passed away over 50 years ago, I wasn't home, and Mom let my Uncle get most of it. I have just a few specimens of some of his stuff, I don't know what most of it is, or where it came from, and while he had lots of large rocks of different sorts, jade and petrified wood are two I remember, all I have now are just some small stuff, most not large enough to throw at a dog. These particular rocks I'm asking to be identified are small, and fractured badly, so their only value is to me because Dad had them.

Depending on the way the light hits them, they can have fire inside, like opal. Most of the time the color is green, but turning the rocks they will also have red inside. However the red is usually seen in low artificial light, and my camera wants to flash at that time, so the red isn't seen in the pictures like in real life. The above photos are with the camera flash. The rocks are against a purple owl drugstore bottle, so you can see they are small. The opaque white stone has more red than the others, however the colors only show on this side of the stone, there is nothing but white if you turn the stone around. The next several pictures are attempts so show the different colors when the rocks are turned in natural sunlight.



And the next several pictures are in the shade.


And finally my attempt to show the red and green in the opaque white stone.

 

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[BurntBear]

Yes, those are definitely opals. Not sure on the locality; possibly Brazil, Australia or Ethiopia. They are good size as well.
I enjoy hearing stories about rocks and gems that are passed on from our loved ones. They have a special place in our lives. I have some beautiful rings from my mother when she passed.

 

[Back-of-the-boat]

There is an opal mine down by Blythe Ca. maybe they came from down that way.I love rock hounding, enjoyable walks even if you don't find anything.

 

[Eu_citzen]

It is opal, but impossible to say from where. We can only speculate. Maybe mexico. The Ethiopian is a fairly recent discovery I think it was first found in 2005.

So if those are from an old collection we can rule that out.

 

[MrLee]

I think the opal mine you are referring to is Opal Hill, which is actually fire agate. The whole mountain is loaded with those and chalcedony roses. Not only that, but a few miles from there are the famous Houser Geode Beds. Haven't had much luck out at Houser though. Very rich area for rock hunting though.