By the Bay Gallery in Morro Bay, California
By the Bay Gallery is open daily and featuring American crafts and fine jewelry since 1988
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Jeff McKenzie - Gemstone Necklace - Ethiopian Opal in Sterling Silver

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Designed and crafted in Sterling Silver, this stunning, elegant necklace features a vivid 4.97ct Ethiopian Opal and a .06ct Diamond on an 18" Sterling Silver box chain, included. Pendant measures approximately 1 1/4" x 7/8".

This one of a kind necklace is in stock and available to ship immediately.

About the work: Each piece is meticulously finished for a lifetime of enjoyment. Fine silver is 99.9% pure silver. In this form the metal is beautiful and suffers from minimal tarnish. Accordingly, a silver that is less than 99.9% pure is called sterling silver. It is usually about 92.5% pure. Sterling silver is an alloy of 92½ % Silver (.925) and 7½ % (.075) of a base metal - usually copper. Pure silver is almost perfectly white, very ductile and malleable. It is considered too soft for most jewelry or flatware use, therefore the addition of small amounts of a base metal serve to harden the alloy.

Australia has been the dominant force in the opal market for over 100 years. During that time as much as 95% of the worldwide opal production has been mined in Australia. Today, Ethiopia is on its way to becoming the second heavyweight in the opal market.

A small discovery in 1994 put Ethiopia on the worldwide opal map. This was followed by important discoveries in 2008 and 2013. These are now producing beautiful precious opal, fire opal, and black opal with spectacular play-of-color in a variety of patterns and body colors.

Ethiopian opals are not only beautiful, but they generally cost less than similar-quality opal from Australia. People now go to the store looking for “Welo opals” or “Ethiopian opals.”

All of our jewelry is nickle-free and hypoallergenic.

Questions? Please email or call us at 805-772-5563 10am to 6pm daily.

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895 Embarcadero, Morro Bay, CA 93442 | 805-772-5563 | bythebay101@gmail.com
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