Article: Opal patterns: harlequin, pinfire, rolling flash
Opal patterns: harlequin, pinfire, rolling flash
Twelve patterns, and one costs ten times as much
Opal patterns from pinfire to harlequin help decide what a stone costs. What is meant is the drawing of the play of colour: tiny dots, broad waves or angular patches like a mosaic. After brightness and body tone, the pattern is the third great price driver, and the only one you can judge yourself without a measuring instrument. Here are the twelve common patterns with a price factor, plus the reason for the rarity of harlequin.
In one sentence: the larger and more closed the colour patches of an opal lie, the rarer and more expensive the stone. Harlequin sits at the top, pinfire at the bottom.
What is an opal pattern?
An opal pattern is the arrangement in which the colour patches of a precious opal are distributed across the face of the stone: tiny dots, continuous areas, narrow bands or angular patches with edges. It describes the shape and size of the glowing areas, not the colour and not the background.
Three terms are constantly mixed up. Body tone is the ground colour of the stone and does not change when you turn it. Play-of-colour is what lights up, usually blue and green, more rarely red. The pattern is the drawing in which those play-of-colour hues sit. How the colours come about is explained in the play of colour of opal; which colour costs what is in Opal colours.
Their names come from the Australian opal fields at Lightning Ridge and Coober Pedy, where everyday pictures became technical terms: fish skin, straw, flagstones, script characters.
Why the drawing moves the price can be put in three words: colour per area. A stone whose fire sits in large, closed patches shows a lot of colour from every angle and little dead grey. Tiny dots carry the same amount of colour, spread over hundreds of crumbs. Both are beautiful; only one is rare.
Which opal patterns are there, and how do they rank?
Twelve names turn up in the trade again and again, rising in value from pinfire to harlequin. The order follows a single logic: size and closedness of the colour patches.
Pinfire
Tiny dots, densely scattered like pinpricks.
Moss
Colour in threads and streaks, like moss under water.
Mackerel
Elongated, overlapping stripes like fish skin.
Flagstone
Colour slabs with dark seams, like an old stone floor.
Broad Flash
A broad colour face lies still across the stone.
Rolling Flash
The face travels as a wave across the stone when you turn it.
Ribbon
Parallel colour bands in two or three tones.
Chinese Writing
Angular strokes like script characters. Rare and sought after.
Straw
Fine straw-like needles cross in layers.
Floral
Colour patches group into rosettes like blossoms.
Block
Large closed colour blocks with clear edges.
Harlequin
Angular patches packed tight like a mosaic. Under one per cent of all opals.
The twelve tiles show the pattern drawing. They are not photos of a specific stone for sale.
The jump in price is not spread evenly: between pinfire and mackerel little moves; between block and harlequin there are worlds.
| Pattern | What you see | Price factor, order of magnitude |
|---|---|---|
| Pinfire | Dots under a millimetre | 1, the reference value |
| Moss | Threads and streaks, moss-like | 1 to 1.5 |
| Mackerel | Elongated stripes, slightly overlapping | 1 to 1.5 |
| Flagstone | Slabs with dark seams | 1.5 to 2 |
| Broad Flash | Broad, still colour face | 2 to 3 |
| Rolling Flash | A face that travels as a wave | 2 to 4 |
| Ribbon | Parallel bands | 2 to 4 |
| Chinese Writing | Angular strokes like script characters | 3 to 6 |
| Straw | Crossed needles in layers | 3 to 6 |
| Floral | Rosettes of colour patches | 4 to 7 |
| Block | Large closed blocks | 4 to 8 |
| Harlequin | Closed mosaic with no gaps | 10 and more |
Why is harlequin opal so rare?
Harlequin is what the trade calls a pattern of large, angular colour patches that lie packed tight and fill the face like a mosaic. Fewer than one per cent of all precious opals meet that, which is why harlequin opal is regarded as the top class and carries the highest pattern premium.
The reason lies deep in the stone. Play of colour arises because tiny silica spheres stack into a regular lattice, and every region of uninterrupted order becomes exactly one colour patch. Most such regions are fractions of a millimetre across, which is why we see dots. For a harlequin the spheres have to hold their order over several millimetres, patch against patch.
Under one per cent of all precious opals show a true harlequin pattern. Black opal in turn makes up less than five per cent of Australian production. Both in one stone, plus red fire, is the combination behind the auction records.
In listing copy the word still appears often. Because “harlequin” sells, flagstone, block and simple mosaic drawings are gladly filed under the same term. With the naked eye the difference is visible as soon as you know what to look for.
True harlequin
Under one per cent of all opals
- Angular patches with straight edges that meet
- Patches about the same size, distributed over the whole face
- Hardly any dark gaps; the mosaic is closed
- When you tilt it the patches stay put; only the colour changes
What is often called that
Neighbour patterns in listing copy
- Round or frayed spots instead of straight edges
- A few large patches on an otherwise still, dark face
- Broad dark seams between the patches, in other words flagstone
- A drawing that travels away as a face when you turn it
On a dark body tone the rare pattern becomes the most expensive piece of opal there is. Red harlequin fire on a black opal unites three rarities in one stone. What that means in figures is worked out in How much is an opal worth?.
Perfect regularity, on the other hand, is a warning sign: laboratory-grown opal orders its spheres so evenly that the colour patches appear almost identically sized, often with a columnar structure like lizard skin. Read more under synthetic opal.
What is a pinfire opal, and what is it worth?
Pinfire is a pattern of tiny colour dots, usually under a millimetre across, densely scattered over the face like pinpricks. It is the most common pattern of all and therefore the reference value against which all the others are measured.
Inexpensive here does not mean weak. A pinfire with high brightness on a dark background looks more alive than a pale harlequin mosaic and costs less, because the drawing is common. Anyone looking for a lot of play of colour per euro will find it here.
Two relatives carry similar price tags: in moss the colours run through the stone in threads; in mackerel elongated stripes overlap like fish skin. Both look calmer than pinfire and barely move the price.
What sets rolling flash and broad flash apart?
Flash is what the trade calls patterns in which the colour does not sit in separate patches but runs as a continuous face across the stone. In broad flash it lies still on the surface; in rolling flash it travels as a wave across the stone when you turn it, without breaking off.
For the appraisal, how far the wave carries is what counts. If it rolls over the whole face and changes colour as it goes, that is regarded as the liveliest area pattern. If it breaks off after half the stone, the value drops accordingly.
Here everything hangs on the viewing angle, and that is why every flash pattern comes with a second question: does the stone show its fire all around, or only from one direction?
What counts besides the pattern?
Four properties move the price even more than the drawing: directionality, brightness, body tone and leading colour.
Directionality
Directional stones show their fire from only one angle and look dark as soon as you tilt them. All-round fire is rarer and, in daily life, the difference you actually feel.
Brightness
Brightness is usually given on a scale of 1 to 5; other houses work with seven grades. It is the strongest single factor and beats every pattern.
Body tone
From N1, jet black, to N9, white. The darker the background, the more contrast the same colour has on it. Hence the price of black opal.
Colour dominance
Red before orange before green before blue. Red needs the largest silica spheres and is therefore the rarest; blue arises with the smallest.
Together the four factors work with one another, not side by side. A harlequin on a light stone with weak brightness remains a cheap opal, while a glowing broad flash in red on a body tone around N2, by the guide values in How much is an opal worth?, starts in three figures per carat. Check brightness first, therefore, and the pattern last.
Which type you even have in front of you is decided still earlier: black opal, crystal opal, Welo and boulder are judged by their own key criteria, set out in Opal types at a glance.
How do you determine the pattern of your stone?
Five minutes, a lamp and a white sheet are enough. What matters is a fixed order, otherwise the first impression overlays everything else.
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Choose the light
Take a point light source or daylight at the window, but not blazing sun. Diffuse light blurs the patch edges, and those are exactly what you want to see.
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Look straight down from above
Lay the stone flat in front of you and look at it square on. This view shows the basic drawing: dots, threads, stripes, bands or patches with edges.
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Measure the patches
Compare the colour areas with the size of the stone: dots under a millimetre point to pinfire; patches from two millimetres with straight edges to block or harlequin.
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Tilt slowly
Tilt the stone in four directions by about thirty degrees. If the colour travels as a continuous face, you have a flash pattern. If the patches stay put, it is a patch pattern.
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Turn it all the way round
Turn the stone on its own axis. If the fire stays visible from every angle, it is alive all round. If it vanishes from three of four directions, it is directional.
If a doubt remains, photograph the stone under the same lamp from three angles and hold the pictures next to the grid above. The path to a reliable classification is in Having an opal valued.
Which shape shows which pattern best?
Large patterns need area; small ones still come off well when they are small. A harlequin loses its effect as soon as the cut clips the patches; a pinfire looks just as dense in a small cabochon as in a large one.
You can follow that in the shapes in the range: oval and round stones give area patterns room, pear and marquise lead directional fire along the long axis, the heart lives off the outline. You feel it most clearly on an opal ring, because your hand takes the stone through changing light.
Read the pattern first, then decide
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Discover certified opal jewelleryCommon questions on opal patterns
Which opal is the rarest?
A harlequin opal with red play of colour on a jet-black body tone. The pattern alone occurs in under one per cent of all precious opals; red fire and a body tone around N1 are rare as well.
What is a harlequin opal?
An opal whose colour patches are large, angular and packed tight, so that they fill the face like a mosaic. Round spots or broad dark seams belong to flagstone or block, even if harlequin is written on the label.
What does pinfire mean in opal?
Tiny colour dots under about a millimetre, densely scattered across the face. It is the most common and therefore the least expensive pattern, which says nothing about the brightness.
What is rolling flash?
A continuous colour face that travels as a wave across the surface when you turn the stone. If the wave carries over the whole face and changes tone as it goes, the price sits well above pinfire.
How much more expensive is a harlequin opal?
As an order of magnitude, ten times and more compared with an otherwise identical pinfire stone. There is no standardised price list, and brightness, body tone and colour shift every value more than the drawing.
Does the pattern change when I turn the stone?
The colours change; the drawing stays. In patch patterns the patches stay put and only swap tone; in flash patterns the face travels across the stone.
Do synthetic opals show patterns too?
Yes, and often strikingly even ones. Laboratory-grown opal forms colour patches of similar size in a regular distribution, often with a columnar structure like lizard skin.
If you are unsure or have questions, you are welcome to contact us at any time, even if you did not buy the opal from us. Contact form, email cs@libertyangels.de or call +49 171 1603048.
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Written by Anton Kehler
Gründer FAERELLI & Liberty Angels
