Any Opal lovers out there? Show and Tell please.

[Atwater]

I probably showed this one a long time ago. It is a 2.33ct Welo opal by Barry. When I saw Barry's picture, I thought of a lake in sunset. For some reason, my pictures do not capture the red well.

 

[Pumpkinsparkles]

My opals, I don’t know the origin but the both are beautiful. The first has great color play under lighting but Looks like crystal moonstone under none.

 

[Pumpkinsparkles]

 

[dk168]

After reviewing many opals at Opal Auctions, I came to the conclusion that I like blues with pink flashes the most.
The boulder ones that I like are beyond my reach, however, I am eyeing a few lovely and affordable doublets.
Hopefully, I shall be able to get one of them soon.
It will be set in a plain metal halo style ring.

DK

 

[userangl28212003]

My new boulder opal ring I bought at intergem show yesterday

 

[lovedogs]

After reviewing many opals at Opal Auctions, I came to the conclusion that I like blues with pink flashes the most.
The boulder ones that I like are beyond my reach, however, I am eyeing a few lovely and affordable doublets.
Hopefully, I shall be able to get one of them soon.
It will be set in a plain metal halo style ring.

DK

Doublets are my favorite thing right now. You get all the lovely colors and color play, but the price is much more affordable. I would never be able to buy the bright flashy opals I love if not for doublets. Can't wait to see what you end up with!

 

[T L]

I think Welo opals are quite beautiful and extremely affordable. I’ve seen many as nice as Australian material, but if someone doesn’t care for Welo opals, I would love to hear your opinion why.

 

[Bluegemz]

I think Welo opals are quite beautiful and extremely affordable. I’ve seen many as nice as Australian material, but if someone doesn’t care for Welo opals, I would love to hear your opinion why.

I think they are gorgeous personally, like balls of glitter. I’d love to have one eventually. To me, visually they really are their own thing. They seem to have their own distinctive look.

 

[T L]

I know, but perhaps they put off some people, and I would love to honestly know why. I’m not an opal aficionado, so this would be interesting to understand why. The prices are really decent and I’m just wondering why there hasn’t been larger demand like the Australian material. I mean, I know fine black opal is in a rare class, but I’m talking mostly semi crystal and crystal material.

 

[Atwater]

I know, but perhaps they put off some people, and I would love to honestly know why. I’m not an opal aficionado, so this would be interesting to understand why. The prices are really decent and I’m just wondering why there hasn’t been larger demand like the Australian material. I mean, I know fine black opal is in a rare class, but I’m talking mostly semi crystal and crystal material.

I think one issue may be that the crystal opal needs to be appreciated in a pretty short distance, at least in natural shaded light. Unlike a lot of CS whose color can grab people's interest across the room, the crystal opal may look just like an uninteresting half egg from afar.

 

[T L]

I think one issue may be that the crystal opal needs to be appreciated in a pretty short distance, at least in natural shaded light. Unlike a lot of CS whose color can grab people's interest across the room, the crystal opal may look just like an uninteresting half egg from afar.

True but Australian crystal opals are more expensive than Welo with the same features. Thanks for your opinion!

 

[voce]

True but Australian crystal opals are more expensive than Welo with the same features. Thanks for your opinion!

Not an opal expert here, but I've remembered hearing that Ethiopian opal is not as stable as Australian opal and would sometimes dry up or "craze", so a number of vendors have stopped carrying the Ethiopian material, as it's understandably very upsetting to open up your vault only to discover your opal stock value dropped even though you didn't do anything to damage the stones.

Yvonne Raley's one of the vendors who stopped stocking Ethiopian opal, and you might find this read interesting.
https://www.cecileraleydesigns.com/blogs/cecile-raley-designs/buying-opals-pros-and-cons

 

[T L]

@voce,
That’s interesting, because I’ve heard the opposite, that Australian material crazes. I’ve actually seen lots of crazed Australian opals. I do think Welos are more difficult to cut though, and tend to crack when cut.

Thanks for the article!

 

[jordyonbass]

@voce,
That’s interesting, because I’ve heard the opposite, that Australian material crazes. I’ve actually seen lots of crazed Australian opals. I do think Welos are more difficult to cut though, and tend to crack when cut.

Thanks for the article!

Both locations can have crazed stones. When it comes to my own stock I will let it sit in a dry area with sunlight for a while as this well accelerate any crazing issues that the stone has got.

 

[ChaiK]

David Klass' workmanship. An Australian Opal.

 

[ChaiK]

Dark Ethiopian opal. Untreated. I got it off that moonstone guy that @lovedogs mentioned in the forum somewhere.

 

[T L]

Dark Ethiopian opal. Untreated. I got it off that moonstone guy that @lovedogs mentioned in the forum somewhere.

Unique opal, reminds me of the Earth from space. Lovely!

 

[ChaiK]

Oh. One more. It is actually with a grey translucent jelly like body with lots of flashes of colour.

 

[lovedogs]

Oh. One more. It is actually with a grey translucent jelly like body with lots of flashes of colour.

Ooooh I love this!!!!!

 

[caolsen]

This is my first opal - pretty basic white opal, small melee. Opals aren't normally by thing but I had a hankering for an opal...I could not shake.

 

[dk168]

This doublet is on it's way to me, 16x11mm, screenshot and no video:


DK

 

[Punks-Tricks]

I was lucky to receive this lovely Australian Black Opal as a surprise birthday present back in March. It has gone to the jeweller today to be set in to a ring! Final design to be tweek'd but getting there. It's round 2.13ct solid gem opal, with a brightness of 4 and body N2. I'm in the UK and was struggling to find somebody to set it as jewellers here don't like opal's or setting stones they haven't supplied. But I've found a jeweller to do it, there is a bit of a story but don't want to bore you all. Let's just say I feel that I'm on an emotional high! Oh and I consider myself to be a good photographer but haven't been able to do the stone justice with even my DSLR camera and macro lens! Opal are very very tricky to photograph

 

[Acinom]

This doublet is on it's way to me, 16x11mm, screenshot and no video:


DK

Beautiful colour play. How will you set it?

 

[Acinom]

I was lucky to receive this lovely Australian Black Opal as a surprise birthday present back in March. It has gone to the jeweller today to be set in to a ring! Final design to be tweek'd but getting there. It's round 2.13ct solid gem opal, with a brightness of 4 and body N2. I'm in the UK and was struggling to find somebody to set it as jewellers here don't like opal's or setting stones they haven't supplied. But I've found a jeweller to do it, there is a bit of a story but don't want to bore you all. Let's just say I feel that I'm on an emotional high! Oh and I consider myself to be a good photographer but haven't been able to do the stone justice with even my DSLR camera and macro lens! Opal are very very tricky to photograph

Beautiful! Looking forward to see your finished ring

 

[dk168]

Beautiful colour play. How will you set it?

Most likely to be like this:


DK

 

[2Neezers]

After @T L mentioned in a post above that Welo opals are both beautiful and affordable, I headed over to opal auctions and ordered this opal. I loved that the pattern looked like little bits of layered confetti .

It’s hard to photograph, but looks pretty much the same in person as the vendors photos.

 

[T L]

That’s a beautiful opal @2Neezers. I ordered an opal from that dealer and it want nearly as nice as the video. You lucked out!!!

 

[2Neezers]

That’s a beautiful opal @2Neezers. I ordered an opal from that dealer and it want nearly as nice as the video. You lucked out!!!

Thank you! I want to collect a few different patterns in Welo’s now, a honeycomb pattern is next on my want list . The seller definitely showed my opal at its very best, and the color play is more muted in person than their photos, but I am still overall happy with it for the price I paid.

 

[T L]

They have a huge Levian Ethiopian opal collection at the mall store, I took a photo with my opal. I love Levian settings, so I’m always on the lookout for a nice sale one where I can toss out the center stone, but alas this was on sale for $1780. The opal was pretty and had those blue and orange sherbet colors I like, but it had an enclosed metal back. Mine is smaller, open back. Similar body color, but theirs was more bluish when I took it out of the brighter lights. It was one if their finer ones though.

 

[T L]

Have to set this 9x7 guy. Here it is in an empty setting with mounting wax.