OPALITE: Not a Gemstone! Not Dolomite or Quartz! It's GLASS

Opalite - GLASS

I'm constantly amazed at the "creativity" of online sellers, and that includes wholesale companies in China and Thailand and all over the world, and sellers on Etsy and Ebay and other online sites.  Too bad this creativity is used to scam buyers---it hurts everyone, from honest sellers to naive buyers.


Opalite is a beautiful "stone" that can be purchased all over, and Michael's (the crafts supply store) has a LOT of it.  It's clearly marked on their tags as "Opalite GLASS" because that's what it is---it's GLASS.  It's very inexpensive (about $5 a strand not on sale).  It's not a gemstone, not made from other gemstones, or any mineral.  It is a glass product.  It is a beautiful glass, but glass nontheless.  I wrote about Opalite last year (HERE) because I was seeing it being sold as "Moonstone" or "Opal" which is a terrible thing to do---it's not any sort of gemstone!  I explained how and where it's made in that blog post.

In my Etsy feed today, I saw an object for sale called "Opalite Gemstone".  In reading the description, the seller goes on to say it's sometimes called Sea Opal, Tiffany Stone*, Opalized Glass, Opal Quartz, and other names.  This makes it seem as though Opalite is correctly called other names----when, in fact, those are just manufacturers' brand names that are given to Opalite EXPRESSLY to mislead the public.  There is no such gemstone as "Sea Opal" or "Opal Moonstone".  And Opalite is NOT quartz!

*There IS a stone called "Tiffany Stone", which is actually a stone mined in Utah seen in varying shades of

So-Called Tiffany Stone: NOT Opalite!

dark purple, lavender and creamy white with swirls of dark and light yellowish brown and pink areas takes a high polish as a cabochon.  It has NOTHING to do with Opalite!!  It was used by Tiffany in some jewelry at one time so it's been dubbed that name.  So to refer to Opalite as this gemstone---well, that's really beyond "creative".



But beyond that, they go on to describe it as a "glass resin" that is made with the actual mineral Dolomite plus metals!

I googled "Opalite+Dolomite" and can see that this particular description (Opalite made with Dolomite) is often used in the wiccan jewelry world, and therefore gives Opalite (which is ONLY glass) mystical healing properties.  Plus, a lot of people might think, "Oooh, Dolomite...so it IS a gemstone" since the name Dolomite sounds very technical and mysterious, until you know what Dolomite is!

In other words, it's a scam.

WHAT IS DOLOMITE?

Dolomite is a very common rock similar to limestone and is comprised of calcium magnesium carbonate.  These rocks were originally deposited as calcium carbonate muds that were post-depositionally altered by magnesium-rich pore water to form dolomite. It is the primary component of Dolomitic Marble and Dolomitic Limestone.  Dolomite has a Mohs hardness of 3.5.

Dolomite Marble 2" Piece

Dolomite Aggregate 1/2" pieces

Dolostone is used extensively in the construction industry. It is crushed and used to pave roads, as an aggregate in concrete and asphalt, and is used in making cement.  Dolomite is used in the production of bricks, glass and ceramics.  Because it is soft and is filled with "gaps" or "holes" within the rock, it is targeted by the oil and gas industry because these holes can be filled with natural gas or oil.

WHY WOULD DOLOMITE (Paving Gravel!)  BE USED TO MAKE OPALITE GLASS?

Simple answer:  it wouldn't, and it isn't.


If you'd like to read more about Opalite, please visit my post about it HERE.