Can I get some feedback on this opal/ general pricing?

[winnietucker]

I love the setting. Here’s the description:
The diamonds and opal are set in platinum the shank is 18k Gold. The 12 diamonds old mine cuts .15 carats each total weight 1.8 they average I color VS2/SI-1 clarity. The opal measures 12mm by 8.5mm stunning color. Ring Size 6 1//2, weight 4.7 grams.

The guy told me this is a very high quality opal. I don’t know much about them but I thought they were supposed to be more colorful.

Anyway thoughts on what is a fair price for this? I had planned on replacing the opal initially...

 

[Big Fat Facets]

hi @winnietucker

im not too knowledgable about opals to offer anything helpful. but i just wanted to say how beautiful i find the old cut diamond, platinum partial bezeled cluster surround. nice higher 18kt gold and platinum ... is an indication of quality metal material used ...

 

[winnietucker]

hi @winnietucker

im not too knowledgable about opals to offer anything helpful. but i just wanted to say how beautiful i find the old cut diamond, platinum partial bezeled cluster surround. nice higher 18kt gold and platinum ... is an indication of quality metal material used ...

The setting is gorgeous! I’ve been eying this ring out forever.

 

[Bron357]

Hmmm.
the setting is exquisite and top quality, the opal?
its hard to judge whether it’s terrible photographing skills or if the opal is “dead”.
a top quality opal should have colour play across 80% or more of the surface. A top quality opal should also have shifting colour play. A top quality opal has red and orange, these are the rarer colors.
I would ask for more photos, preferably outside in natural light and “on the hand”.
my opal here, no special lighting and just an iPhone is what a good opal looks like.

 

[LemonMoonLex]

I'd also ask for more pictures in different lighting.

Like bron said it's either terrible photography or the opal is a crystal Australian opal that is pretty dead/un-colorful.

With all of that said that setting is stunning!

 

[Bron357]

And it looks like some of the diamonds have girdle chips. Diamonds at 1 o’clock, 2 o’clock and 5 o’clock perhaps? Can’t see the inside edges of the diamonds on the other side. What’s the return policy?
if you want to replace the opal it will be tricky. Opals aren’t cut to a “size” they are cut according to what the rough permits to get best colours / size and also reusing a bezel setting requires care and skill removing the original gem and refitting the new.

 

[winnietucker]

@Bron357 Thanks! If the opal looked like yours I would have purchased it. I did ask for more photos though. And thanks for pointing out the diamonds. I hadn’t looked super closely. I can return within 7 days if I don’t like it.

@Garnetgirl I asked! I love the setting so much.

 

[fredflintstone]

Well, cannot say for sure how nice the Opal is here. But I can say whoever took these pictures does not know how to photograph Opal. This is a textbook example of too much light through the lens into the camera washing out the colors. Sunlight pictures will not be any better. You must turn down the light let through your lens into the camera to capture Opal right. The glare of light and the camera's eye just do not see eye to eye & surly not like the human eye.



It takes a lot of practice to get Opal right on pictures and video, unfortunately you probably are not going to see any improvement on pictures of this ring unless someone takes pictures of it that knows how too.



Sometimes you have to punt.

 

[winnietucker]

Well, cannot say for sure how nice the Opal is here. But I can say whoever took these pictures does not know how to photograph Opal. This is a textbook example of too much light through the lens into the camera washing out the colors. Sunlight pictures will not be any better. You must turn down the light let through your lens into the camera to capture Opal right. The glare of light and the camera's eye just do not see eye to eye & surly not like the human eye.



It takes a lot of practice to get Opal right on pictures and video, unfortunately you probably are not going to see any improvement on pictures of this ring unless someone takes pictures of it that knows how too.



Sometimes you have to punt.

Thanks for the feedback! I’ll see what he comes back with. I don’t want to seem to eager here...

 

[LilAlex]

I agree that the ring is lovely and the opal is meh. Looks more like a moonstone. Very little color play that I see. If it's old and all-original, perhaps it's dried out? In any event, someone designed that ring around a much prettier stone.

 

[dk168]

I too agree the diamonds and setting are very nice, however the Opal does not look very nice with not much colour play to speak of.

DK

 

[fredflintstone]

One more thing. The white background does not help this Opal either. White backgrounds wash the Opal out to the camera's eye, hugely. That combined with too much light through the lens makes this Opal impossible to judge.

 

[dk168]

These are photos of my own cheapo Welo Opals I bought from Opal Auctions, taken using my Samsung Galaxy S10+ with no filter or tinkering, and they look livelier than the one in the ring, sorry!



DK

 

[fredflintstone]

These are photos of my own cheapo Welo Opals I bought from Opal Auctions, taken using my Samsung Galaxy S10+ with no filter or tinkering, and they look livelier than the one in the ring, sorry!



DK

They are also on a black background. Which is the truest way to get a sense of what an Opal looks like without knowing how to adjust your light levels or a camera with none.. Try a white background and see what they look like.

If you know how to adjust your light levels you can coax color out of them on a white background, but never as much as a black background or real life.

 

[winnietucker]

@dk168 i really like that last one!

@fredflintstone Given the general consensus that the opal is bleh, I’m thinking that if the second batch of photos are as unexciting and if they’re still unwilling to come down on the price, I’ll just decline to buy. Dang setting is so nice though.

 

[fredflintstone]

@dk168 i really like that last one!

@fredflintstone Given the general consensus that the opal is bleh, I’m thinking that if the second batch of photos are as unexciting and if they’re still unwilling to come down on the price, I’ll just decline to buy. Dang setting is so nice though.

Of course, that is your prerogative. I am not endorsing the ring or rejecting it. I am just stating facts on photographing Opal. As I wrote earlier, I have no opinion on the Opal due to bad photography.