Loving those opals from down under.
By far my favorite gemstone would have to be the Australian black opal. Specifically, black crystal opal from Lightning Ridge Australia. These opals are some of the most valuable, and sought after opals in the world. There are lots of other opal mines in Australia, but the only other two mines that I’ve had personal experience with are Coober Pedy, and Andamooka. Both of these mines also produce high quality opals.
My introduction to Aussie opal didn’t happen over night. Like I said before, the opals from down under are some of the most valuable. That means that even the rough stones are quite expensive. When I first started cutting and polishing stones I didn’t have near the confidence to risk that kind of cash.
Let me back up a bit. I’ve told you in some of my earlier posts how I was diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease, and was told to find a hobby that would provide exercise and some hand and eye coordination therapy. I picked rockhounding as a hobby, and cutting and polishing naturally followed. That’s how this all started.
Opals were not the first stones I worked with. To begin with, I thought I wanted to cut and facet stones. That was a big mistake on my part. I wont go into too much detail on that. I’ll just say that Parkinson’s and faceting jewels isn’t a good idea. If you are living with Parkinson’s, and can cut facets in a stone, I salute you.
After that fiasco, I asked google to tell me what the most difficult stone was to cut and polish. The answer I got was opal. The reason I was given was because they are soft and break easily. I then asked what were the best opals to work with. Of course I was told Australian opals. I then looked up the prices of rough Aussie opal and almost had a heart attack. I quickly put the idea out of my mind. Remember, at this time I knew nothing about opals.
While looking at the prices of Aussie opal I began to notice Ethiopian opals. They looked beautiful to me. Almost any color flash you could think of, but the best thing was that they were much less expensive than Australian opals. I began looking for what I wanted and ended up purchasing a 184ct rough fire opal. I paid like $60.00 for. It took like two weeks before it arrived. I would look at its picture several times a day, and when it finally came in, I had already decided the shape that I would cut it. That was my first mistake. I’ll explain that statement later.
The first day went great. I had a nice oval shape, and it was around 60ct. I went to bed that night feeling good about how things where shaping up. The next morning that all changed. I was literally down to the last polishing and the thing exploded. I mean exploded into a million pieces. I was heart broken, and that almost ended my interest in opals.
After the Ethiopian experience, I decided to keep it safe, and I began pretty much only cutting and polishing agate. Agate is hard to screw up. It also helped me learn different shapes, and techniques. I also, because I shake so much, had to learn different ways of doing things. Every now and again I’ll have somebody tell me that I would get better results if I did it their way. Of course none of those have Parkinson’s. I just kindly smile and say, “Probably so.”
I worked on the agates for a year or better, but in the back of my mind I was still thinking about opals. During this time I was researching and learning about them. You see being a Marine I can’t just quit something. It bothers me. So once I became aware that opals from different regions have different qualities I decided to take the chance. I purchased a 17.5ct, rough black crystal opal from Lightning Ridge. I paid a little over $150.00 for it.
By now I had a bit more confidence in my ability, and when it arrived I didn’t think about it much, I just began. Now would be the time to explain my earlier statement about deciding the shape before I began. While practicing with the agate, I learned that most stones will take the shape that they want to. You can’t force them to be something that they don’t want to be. Especially opals.
Three days after I began I ended up with a beautiful 6.5ct oval black Lightning Ridge crystal opal. Not too bad for my first. I carried it around for a while. I had no idea of how to have it appraised. So I had no idea of how much it was worth. I had a very hard time finding a jeweler in Mobile that felt comfortable putting a price on it. I was eventually sent to see a lady that has had a jewelry store here for a while, and a lot of experience in opals. She looked at it and at first she seemed to have a hard time believing that I cut and polished it. Once she was satisfied that I wasn’t a jewel thief she told me that the opal was worth $1,400.00. I was hooked forever.
Today I’ve got somewhere around 18 Australian opals. Lightning Ridge, Andamooka, and Coober Pedy. As far as prices go, like I’ve said before, we are trying to keep it real. I’ve got easier ways to appraise the opals now, and I’ve met people that have showed me places that I can get better deals on rough. I pass that on. I usually will not price an opal for more than half of what it is appraised for. The way I see it is if you purchase an opal from me and can turn a profit, then God bless you.
Check out the opals in the store. I’ll add new ones as soon as I get them. I could write about opals all night but I believe this is getting long enough. I will say thank you and have a good evening. I’ll write again tomorrow.
