Sea Opal and Opalite - anyone know anything or have experiemce with?

[Cactus Rose]

Hi;
I have been trying to research Sea Opal and Opalites and have been going in circles. Some sites say it is Man Made ( by dyeing and pearlizing quartz or shell) and other say it is a natural occurance when quartz is formed with sillica near by.

Some sites link sea opal with abalone shell (which I reconize) but also I pull up pictures of a stone that is totally different. It seems more like a clear or snow quartz that looks like it has be pearlized.

Thanks for sharing anything. - Cactus Rose

[Ronda]

I have a small sphere and some beads of the opalite. I always have to actually handle something to make a judgement about it, so I have a lot of odd bits in my collections.

I was told by a dealer that has a factory in China that it is a man made stone, manufactured in China.

It is lovely to look at (opaque but very shimmery and shiney) but it doesn't look like treated quartz really - maybe it is, but it feels more like manufactured than treated stone. Might be another stone that was treated, maybe, but it doesn't seem to have the same weight of a quartz when you compare the same size stone.

I don't really like how it feels that much - though I do know a lot of people that find it attractive. It tends to seem to be associated with wanting to show a good appearance to the world no matter what - though that may just be what I get from it and not a true reading as I haven't really found any references to metaphysical properties associated with it.

I am not sure what a sea opal is, but are you thinking of something similar to sea glass maybe?

Ronda
Blessings!