We are a women-led team of silversmiths (since 2015), trained by Mexican and German experts. We are based on the Caribbean coast of Honduras, Central America. ALS stands for our names and the names of our daughters. You can communicate with us in Spanish, French, German, and English.

We are members of the German-Honduran Chamber of Industry and Trade.

Our jewelry is handmade in our workshop. Although we mainly work with silver, the demand for gold jewelry has increased and so you will see more of it in the near future. Besides natural opals, we occasionally also use certified tropical hardwood, conch, and up-cycled black coral, found in the Bay Islands off the coast of Honduras.

We only use natural opals from Honduras. We do not use synthetic material. Whenever a duplet or triplet is part of our jewelry, it will be described as such.  Our favorite is natural black opal, but we also very much enjoy working with white, naturally black matrix (as opposed to other natural material which requires dyes to become black), crystal, fire and dendritic opal.

Not yet in the store, but special requests can be accommodated. In the near future they will also be made available to purchase in the store.

Please drop us a line at opalsjewels.als@gmail.com or call us at +504 24407207. You can also follow our Facebook @ALS.Opalos or Instagram @als_jewels.

The Opal's fascinating play of color phenomenon has inspired fantasies and passions throughout the ages. It was mentioned in historical sources of Roman Age (Gaius Plinius Secundus, AD 23/24–79) when it was very much appreciated, considered as a sacred stone and reached very high prices.

Different healing properties were assigned, such as that of treating eyesight problems, to make the person invisible (this superstition earned opal the popular designation of patronus furum, Latin for “patron of thieves”), to make the birth easier; all of which led to different assessments of its commercial value.

To the aborigines of Australia, the opal is linked to their cosmovision of creation. (Dreamtime Heritage”, Australian Aboriginal Myths, Ainslie and Melva Roberts, 1975 and Aboroginal Mythyology, Mudrooroo Nyongah 1994)

Opals were also mentioned in the literary works of classical authors such as William Shakespeare (1564- 1616,"Twelfth Night, Or What You Will" von 1601, Act II. Scene IV); Walter Scott (1771-1832, Gothic novel, Anne of Geierstein); Guillaume Apollinaire (1880-1918, “Sonnet pour une opale d'Asie sertie dans une épingle”); Gabriele d'Annunzio (1863 – 1938, “The Flame of Life”); and Lessing (1729-1781, "Nathan der Weise")

The fame of bad luck attributed to the opal is due to an approximate reading of the novel by Walter Scott “Anne of Geierstein“". These superstitions or popular beliefs were identified as such by the mineralogist George Kunz (1856 -1932,”The Curious Lore of Precious Stones”).

None of the mystic characteristics historically linked to opals have been scientifically proven. What holds true is that beauty is in the eye of the beholder. Opal owners highly appreciate the opal's unique beauty and disregard superstitions.

We think that it is bad luck NOT to have opal jewelry!

There is limited updated scientific/geological/gemological knowledge of the various types of opal available in Honduras. This paper dates from 2009: ”Nanostructures and microinfrared behavior of black opal from Gracias, Honduras”; Viti, Cecilia; Gemmi, Mauro, Neues Jahrbuch für Mineralogie - Abhandlungen Band 186 Heft 1 (2009)).

Currently and readily available in the opal mines in the west of the country are black, white, fire, crystal, black matrix and dendritic opal. However, there are other places in the country where opal is thought to be found.

Opals are hard to compare to one another, be that from the same country or the same mine. To the eyes of the beholder, there is no opal equal to another. They are all unique and there are opals with astounding color, play of color, and incredible patterns.

“The black opal of Honduras is hosted in a volcanoclastic rock, is amorphous (opal-A), produces intense play of color and is characterized by pleochroism and sharp birefringence”. (Source: Nanostructures and microinfrared behavior of black opal from Gracias, Honduras; Viti, Cecilia; Gemmi, Mauro, Neues Jahrbuch für Mineralogie - Abhandlungen Band 186 Heft 1 (2009)  The implication is  that black opal with intense play of color – key element to determine opal price and value- is not only found in Australia but also in Honduras!

We have sold black opals (body one N2-N4) both with play of color and with dendrites - not seen elsewhere-, as well as fire opal combined with white opal in the same stone with black mother rock. Honduras also offers stones with fossils. In our small collections we pride ourselves to have several with fossilized conch. The crystal opal we have worked with is not hydrophane – it does no absorb water and is stable with regards to its colors.

Unique in Honduran opal mines is the black matrix opal. It does not need any dye to make its beautiful colors appear. There are different levels of quality and top- quality black matrix opal is hard to come by. Black matrix opal is porous and might need stabilizing so that it is less vulnerable to wear and tear in rings for example.

Apparently, Honduras has the oldest known opal mines of the continent. It is a fact that Honduran opals were well known to Spanish colonialists. Local oral history indicates that Honduran opals can be found in various jewels of European royal houses. This means that, although at this moment in time Honduran opals have a marginal presence in the international market, their quality and beauty has been appreciated for hundreds of years.

On principle yes. However, we are bound to DHL. In case trade restrictions beyond our control are implemented, we would have a very hard time getting your item shipped to you. If in doubt, please inquire before making your purchase online.

Shipping is included in our prices. No additional fee will be charged unless our Carrier, DHL, changes policies.

We integrate handmade indigenous material in the packaging. Hopefully you will like it! Of course, all of it will be well protected with additional packaging material so that your jewelry arrives safely.

Yes, we do. If you are not satisfied with the product, please let us know immediately within 14 days of delivery. DHL’s tracking counts. If we are not notified within 14 days of delivery, it cannot be returned. We do not pay for shipping the item back to us. Your payment will be returned the same way you made it. However, we are not responsible for possible ensuing financial costs.

Like all delicate and beautiful things in our lives, opals can be with us for a very, very long time – in fact they can be handed down to the next generation- if we treat them well. Opals contain water and their hardness ranges from 5 to 6.5 on the Mohs scale (Diamonds are 10 on the same scale). It is best to avoid harsh temperature changes, activities which would expose them to being scratched or broken (i.e. gardening) and prolonged exposure to heat or intense light as it could cause fracture lines. Last but not least, opals are vulnerable to harsh chemicals, in particular hydrofluoric acid and caustic alkaline solutions.

Opals can be cleaned with warm, soapy water.

To learn more about Honduras, visit the following links:

• German-Honduran Chamber of Industry and Trade: https://honduras.ahk.de/

• Honduran Tourism Chamber: https://canaturh.org/

• Honduran Tourism Board:  http://www.iht.hn/

Scientific papers on opals from Honduras:

• https://www.schweizerbart.de/papers/ejm/detail/11/83156/Black_opal_from_Honduras?af=search, European Journal of Mineralogy Volume 11 Number 2 (1999), p. 401 – 408

• https://www.schweizerbart.de/papers/njma/detail/186/72760/Nanostructures_and_microinfrared_behavior_of_black_opal_from_Gracias_Honduras?af=search; Neues Jahrbuch für Mineralogie - Abhandlungen Band 186 Heft 1 (2009), p. 11 – 20, Nanostructures and microinfrared behavior of black opal from Gracias, Honduras; Viti, Cecilia; Gemmi, Mauro;  published: Jun 23, 2009