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OpalGlobe.com
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Although opal cutters prefer to cut and polish opals as a one, solid stone, in many instances that is just not possible to achieve. Sometimes the opals are too thin and fragile to stand on their own and to be mounted into a piece of jewelry.
To overcome this problem opal jewelers use a relatively simple and very effective technique and create doublets and triplets.
Jewelers choose a black backing (usually colorless, dark, natural - but not precious opal called potch, black glass or a piece of hard, black plastic) and simply attach a slice of opal on top of it with black cement or some other kind of adhesive.
The final product is called doublet. It looks very appealing because the black backing part causes the body of the opal to look much darker and automatically all other colors become more vibrant and visible.
Doublets can be easily recognised by looking them from the side. A fine, very straight line, dividing the opal part from it’s backing, should be visible. However, once set into a jewelry piece it is almost impossible to tell the difference between a doublet and a solid opal.
Triplets are made in exactly the same way as doublets but usually from much thinner opal slices. As thinner slices are much more fragile they need some sort of extra protection.
In those cases a clear piece of glass, quartz or plastic in a dome shape is glued on top of the opal and a triplet is born.
Doublets and triplets are much cheaper alternative to solid opal gemstones. Doublets generally contain more real opal than triplets. Triplets with a very similar appearance to solid opals might be 10-15 times cheaper in price.
Both doublets and especially triplets should never be exposed to or be kept under water for very long period of time. Water might weaken the adhesive components and somehow can find its way in between the layers of doublets and triplets and can cause some serious damage.
(For information about solid opals, please read our “Types of Opals” and “About Opals” articles.)
