The first opal I ever set was a black opal from Lightning Ridge, and I was a wreck the entire time. Opals have a reputation for being delicate, and that reputation is partly earned and partly a misunderstanding that's kept a lot of people away from one of the most extraordinary stones on earth.

Here's what's actually true about opals.

Opals are softer than diamonds. That's the headline. On the Mohs hardness scale, opals come in around 5.5 to 6.5. Diamonds are 10. Sapphires are 9. So an opal is going to scratch and chip more easily than the stones most people think of when they think of fine jewelry. That's the part that's true.

The part that gets exaggerated is the fragility. People hear "soft stone" and assume their opal will shatter the first time they bump it on a doorframe. In my experience, that's not how opals fail. They fail when they're in the wrong setting for the wrong stone, or when someone lets them dry out for a decade in a velvet pouch.

Let me explain both.

Setting matters more for opals than for almost any other stone

A bezel setting protects an opal in a way that prongs simply can't. The metal wraps the entire perimeter of the stone, takes the impact when you bump your hand, and keeps the edges from chipping. I will set opals in prongs if a client really wants the look, but I'll always say my piece first. If you want an opal you can wear without thinking about it, bezel it.

The other thing I think about with opal settings is depth. A lot of opals — especially Australian doublets and triplets — are very thin, and the back of the stone needs to be supported. Setting them too high catches everything. Setting them flush against a base keeps the geometry honest.

The drying-out problem nobody warns you about

Opals are between three and ten percent water by weight. Yes, water. They formed over millions of years in environments that had moisture, and they hold onto that water as part of their internal structure. When an opal dries out — too much heat, too long in dry storage, ultrasonic cleaners — it can craze, which is when fine surface cracks form across the stone. Crazed opals can't really be repaired. They lose their fire and they look milky.

So if you have an opal, don't store it in a hot car. Don't leave it on a sunny windowsill. Don't run it through an ultrasonic cleaner. And if you're not wearing it for months, drop it in a small container with a damp cotton ball — that keeps the air around it humid enough to prevent crazing.

It sounds high-maintenance. It's really not. It's three rules.

Why I think you should consider one anyway

I'll be direct. There is no other stone on earth that does what an opal does. The play of color in a good Australian opal — flashes of red, blue, green, orange, all at once, shifting as you tilt your wrist — is something you cannot replicate with any other gem. Diamonds are sparkle. Sapphires are color. Opals are weather. They have an internal life that changes by the hour and by the angle of the light, and once you've owned one you understand why people get a little bit obsessive.

The misconception I'd most like to retire is the idea that opals are unlucky. That superstition comes from a Walter Scott novel published in 1829 and was reinforced by the De Beers diamond marketing of the early twentieth century, which had every reason to talk people out of opals. There is no historical or cultural basis for opal misfortune that predates that fiction. Wear it without worrying.

If you're thinking about an opal — engagement ring, pendant, or otherwise — and you want to talk through what would actually hold up to your life, you can get in touch here. I'll tell you honestly whether it's a fit.