Share your thoughts on a boulder opal please...

[GregS]

I am wanting to make a mendant for myself. I have narrowed it down to a bezel set boulder opal on a long thin ball chain, so it will hang mid-chest. Here's a link to a youtube video of one I am seriously considering. If I buy it I'd have it set fat end up. The stone is just shy of 2 cts., about 1 1/4 centimeters long and cost is $350 usd. I know you lovely ladies (and gentleman) have a good eye, so please share your thoughts on this stone.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9SjT8DdwmXE

 

[chrono]

Wow, looks as though I am looking through lenses at our cosmic world. Is that opal for real?

 

[GregS]

I certainly hope it's for real.

 

[Agneau]

I thought the same thing as Chrono... it looks like outer space.

It's awesome!

 

[GregS]

It's funny you're saying that, I showed it to a co-worker and he said the same thing, that it looks like a galaxy.

 

[blingymo]

Wow. I think it's gorgeous! Please be careful with who sets it - I had one I bought in Australia many moons ago, and the jeweler chipped off the opal when setting it

 

[jstarfireb]

It's absolutely jaw-dropping! I'd love to have an opal like that!

As you probably know, boulder opal is a very thin vein of opal on top of an ironstone matrix. For that reason (the thinness of the opal stone), it may be difficult to find someone willing to bezel it. I had a hard time getting my boulder opal earrings set. The person who eventually agreed to set it said that gallery wire is much safer (ETA: safer in terms of risk of damaging the stone during setting) than a regular bezel setting. Mine look like this:

 

[GregS]

Yeah, I've heard it referred to as natures doublet, which it really is. I'll have to ask around and see what's the suggested way to set it. Bezel setting it would be ideal afaic, for the added weight and aesthetics. But I'm definitely rethinking that now.

 

[chrono]

So.....it's yours now? Perhaps it is best to ask the jeweller what is not only aesthetically pleasing but easiest/safest to set.

 

[GregS]

Yes I bought it, I couldn't resist. Any suggestions for setting it? I had initially envisioned a rather plain/heavy bezel.

I've dealt with Daniel M. and Caren on several pieces of jewelry, so I will ask them at some point.

 

[hippi_pixi]

Great example of boulder opal and a great price too. Well done!

 

[minousbijoux]

It looks brilliant and intensely colorful in the video - I look forward to seeing what its like when you get it in hand. Any ETA?

 

[GregS]

It shipped today, so approximately ten days.

 

[minousbijoux]

You know, until you and Athenaworth, I didn't know that boulder opal could be so beautiful. Is black opal preferred because its hardier or less fragile? Because colorwise, I'm not sure I see a great difference colorwise between them???

 

[GregS]

To my untrained eye, a top boulder opal can go toe to toe with a top black opal in color.

Although the brightest Opal I have seen in my search has to be this Ethiopian Opal, I laughed out loud to myself when I first saw it. It's quite the spectacle, check out the video.

http://www.opalauctions.com/auctions/ethiopian-opals/item-352192

 

[athenaworth]

You know, until you and Athenaworth, I didn't know that boulder opal could be so beautiful. Is black opal preferred because its hardier or less fragile? Because colorwise, I'm not sure I see a great difference colorwise between them???

There’s a difference in texture between boulder opals and black opals (boulders are more porous) and it takes some searching to find a boulder opal with the same depth of color (I just made that term up) as a black opal. You’d have to see them side by side to really understand the difference. Also nice dark black opals are extremely rare so really you’re paying for that as well. But yes, there are boulder opals that can be just as pretty (to me) as a black opal.

 

[athenaworth]

http://www.opalauctions.com/auctions/ethiopian-opals/item-352192

HOLY POOP that's a shiner!

 

[Richard M.]

To my untrained eye, a top boulder opal can go toe to toe with a top black opal in color.

According to Australian opal nomenclature, boulder opal can be classed as black opal -- it all depends on the base color seen face-up. If it's N1 to N4 black, it's black opal whether it's ironstone-backed or all opal. Black opals are found on all Australian mining fields but Lightning Ridge, where they were most abundant, is famous for them. LR also produces much light opal. It's well known for fine crystal opals similar to Ethiopian but non-hydrophane (they don't absorb liquids.) They can be every bit as bright as the best Ethiopian.

Probably the brightest crystal opal I've ever seen came from the Mintabie mining field in Australia. I almost mortgaged my house to finance 4 ounces of incredible rough. The Mintabie field is located on property controlled by Aboriginals and my understanding is that when the Aboriginals decided to stop mining there the only unexplored legal ground left was the airfield. So in true miner fashion they dug it up and recovered some of the finest opal the field ever produced, including the opal I was so tempted by.

Richard M. (Rick Martin)

 

[minousbijoux]

Great info, Rick. Thank you for taking the time to reply.

 

[GregS]

Very informative, you have me wanting to see a picture of the Opal you were referring to.

 

[Richard M.]

I don't have images of the opal parcel except mentally. It was intense broad-flash so bright it almost hurt my eyes, with vivid red, orange, yellow, green, blue, violet - virtually every primary color of the spectrum that varied with each movement of the stone. It was awesome. Broad-flash is the term used to describe play of color that presents as sheets of color across the entire face of the stone. Mintabie also produced some blacks but they were different than the LR blacks. They occurred as thin veins, black on both sides with color hidden in the middle. When you cut them you had to gamble on which side was best to cut away to reveal the color. It yielded some nice gems but nothing to compare with LR's best.

Richard M. (Rick Martin)