These unusual transparent lavender-blue highlight opal come from the Opal Butte mine of central Oregon. Unlike many opals, blue highlight opal looks better next to skin, which brings out its beautiful natural base color and the pink, peach or sunshine yellow-white highlights or modest fire.
Opal Butte is an old, once prominent, mine that was once owned by Tiffany & Co. Tiffany once owned more than a dozen gem mines, mostly in the western U.S. states and sold them all during the long Great Depression of the 1930's.
Besides this unusual blue highlight opal, the Opal Butte mine also occasionally produces crystal-precious opal, a lighter clearer variant of the lavender-blue highlight opal with more colors of weak to moderate fire.
The opal at Opal Butte is found in hard rhyolite and jasper nodules and matrix characteristic of most American opal, making mining more costly and difficult.
| Photo | Cut | Shape | Size (mm) |
Weight (ct) |
Price |  |
|
|
Faceted | Trillion | 9 | 1.68 | $45 | |
 |
Faceted | Pear | 14 x 10 | 3.7 | $80 | |
 |
Faceted | Hexagon | 11 | 3.63 | $140 | |
 |
Cab top Faceted back |
Trillion | 9 | 1.58 | $45 | |
 |
Cab top Faceted back |
Trillion | 12 | 4.9 | $100 | |
 |
Cab top Faceted back |
Hexagon | 9 | 1.55 | $45 |
