When I was a kid, opals were my favourite stone. I recall being very bitter that I wasn’t born in October (although the importance of birthstones was mainly tied to what sort of toy ring I could choose from the kiddy dentist office) and one of my mother’s few pieces of precious jewellery was an opal ring that I would constantly sneak in and handle, despite not being allowed to open her jewellery box unsupervised. So anyway, now I take extra glee in purchasing and hoarding this stone. Sort of like how I still, once a year, buy an entire box of chocolates and make myself sick by eating ALL OF THEM WOOO. Because I’m a grown up, and nobody can stop me.
Also, why not, here’s a bonus piece of rough black opal. It’s really difficult to photograph, but you can see a little streak of shininess in there.
marianchurchland.com 
when I was a young dwarf I worked in a pawn shop and fire opals were my favorite jewel.. I never embarked to purchase one for fear that one would not be enough but when they would come across my desk I would let them sit for awhile before being filed away.. like little galaxies they are.
You are wise. One is never enough.
opal, nature’s glass!! amorphous silica is close enough to crystalline silicates, is what i say. but on a more stoney note, today i went to the gem store and picked up a great firey blue labradorite and a peaceful agate for a friend’s birthday, because this post reminded me that shinies are always a great gift. thanks for the inspiration!
I remember being to surprised to learn that so many stones were essentially quartz in one variation or other. Your friend is lucky! Best gift ever.
I realized I wasn’t very familiar with opals and my daughter was born in october so I just googled them and fell down an image search hole for like 15 minutes. I’m now obsessed with these wood boulder opal things? They literally look like magical items!!
Yess! I so badly want one of those opalized wood fossils. Like, #1 on my shiny want list. So full of magical powers.