Hi, i have these white cabochon opals, some really nice ones there, total weight is around 10ct I have many opals - i ultimately want to turn these into gold pendants, will look to take a trip to Hong Kong to get this done, or possibly send them over if i can find a solid contact with a decent quote. Have some bigger Black opals also i want to do the same these are over a ct each.. most have multi-colour. Have hundreds of opals i have been accumulating since the 90s and dont seem to be able to sell them!, some really gemmy! These are some of my more prized ones (i like the translucent gemmy ones over the opaque boulder doublet stuff) Have thousands of gemstones which i am looking to make into jewellery but think opal is the sweetest! Please let me know of a jewellery where i can have pendants fashioned in bulk, obviously i am looking for a great value jeweller likely india or asia .. Not retail Australian Jewellers as i hope to make a profit!
Correct, these are all from Ethiopia. I have never owned a translucent opal from Australia.. must be rather expensive and rare i guess? I have decent Coober Pedy / Lightning ridge Australian opal accumulation .. but have been selling them down to fund my Ethiopian and other various gemstone purchases.
So how stable are they? i only have one Ethiopian opal that I bought from a highly reputable wholesaler as it was cut ten years ago and he had it stored, waiting to see if it lost its play of colour. Fortunately it is vivid and so i bought it. It is proven to be stable. I have solid lightning ridge black opal and it is gemmy. I prefer the aussie stuff as the play of colour is superior....having said that good Ethiopian opal is nice.
I have a black welo and it is pretty stable. I do store the opal in gem jars with the foam inserts having been dampened though. I hate the idea of the opals getting crazed. I don't have any really specials though (I think). If I post a pick of something that may be Australian could you have a guess at IDing it?
Hi, RE: Stability.. to me this is just an internet disinformation hit peice on Ethiopian Opals to differentiate from Australian to justify the massive price divergence, the difference is purely in the aesthetics.. ie: look. Opals have the same MOH and general properties, currently the market has had an influx of recently mined Ethiopian opals which has upset traditional Australian sellers, this is only a short term and relatively recent dilemma. To me its like art.. buy what you like in your price range. Each mine and location has unique aspects which set them apart from others. Treated / heated / smoked vs untreated is another major factor here, i understand a lot of African opals have been treated whereas the majority of Opals from Australia have not been (this is very common in the world of gems and is usually stated by the seller!) All just my opinion but the self destructing Ethiopian opal is a myth from my experience.. other than reading about it online my personal experience is that it is not a real phenomenon, would happily revise this if hard evidence came my way but extremely happy with my Africa opals and have held many for over 10 years with no "issues" and don't expect any.. Some of my corundum specimens have cracked on me in the last 10 years.. that's real..
Translucent opal from Aus can be quite expensive if it is high quality crystal opal, but you can get Jelly Opals with decent colour play that aren't too expensive though! It is still unproven how stable it is as it hasn't had time to prove its lasting durability, That's part of the reason its cheaper now. If it proves its durability over time it value should continue to rise. A lot of the early Ethiopian opal discovered in 1994 is highly prone to cracking and isn't sold much because of the backlash in the international gem community. If your wholesaler is selling you WELO opal that was cut ten years ago then he is either exaggerating or not that reputable as Welo was only discovered in 2008. It is probably not a good idea to use damp inserts on Welo; Welo is a hydrophane stone meaning it will rapidly absorb water which causes the stone to temporarily loose its colour play and excess moisture may lead to the stone cracking. Welo likes it dry! Post the photos and we will see if we can help you!
Hi mate, to the best of my knowledge Ethiopian Opals were discovered in 1994 (Gondar), Welo field opals in 2008 .. Eita Ridge is another field in the highlands which was where i believe is where the black and red opals are being sourced -- information is very low so just words more than facts.. language gap makes information vary but i have heard early poorly cut gems from this location may have cracked due to water use for extraction then sun drying.. also the altitute variation as this are mined well above sea level all play a role. My first few Ethiopian opal purchases were through an online retailer.. i didnt have any wholesale contacts at that stage. RE: Water.. i know it can bring out the colour or reduce it (even make the colour dissapear) but have been assured this is temporary and that it will come back after max 3 weeks. Even the biggest year of Opal output for Ethiopia just 750 kg were produced! .. (only hand mining locals can mine these and it will be all over within 5 years) 90% of Opals are found (have been) in Australia. Looks like our generation has an incredible opportunity to get these opals. I think a lot of the concern is due to the differentiation of these opals as hydrophane -- i guess it comes down to a risk / reward and probability model.. i personally dont see the risk so have been investing care free .. it will be a problem for me if they do crack! Love the limited supply of gemstones.. African gemstones especially offer rarity and are very affordable to us Westerners.. it really is a blessing In the future there will be no such supply, i could even see Ethiopian Opal commanding a premium over Australian Opals for this very reason (especially if they dont Crack) There is a lot of information online - i have read lots but not all (this website does mention cracking - http://www.jtv.com/library/ethiopian-hydrophane-opal.html ) Ethiopian opal discovery in 1994 at Yita Ridge in the Shewa province, which is prone to cracking. Contrarily, once cut, the Welo opals have proven to be as stable as Australian opal or Brazilian opal where only a small percentage may craze or crack. I dont have a gem encyclopedia recent enough to cover this field so will continue to absorb information and will report back on this thread.. seems like plenty of us are interested in the subject
great post. my dealer showed me the stone wet and the POC was there and that was the whole argument that my stone was stable as it has been dry for a decade and now was stable. But you are also correct that time will tell. I love my stone, will have to give a pic.
Hey mate, I moved some of your quotes around so my response hopefully makes more sense; As far as I can tell from what I have found there is genuine Black opal coming out of Ethiopia which has been confirmed by GIA! However it wasn't discovered till 2013 so anything before that is pretty safe to assume its treated (Smoked, dyed or sugared) . Being out of the ground for only 2 years it still has a long way to go to prove its durability but Could end up being a great investment! At this stage I have only purchased Welo rough from online retailers, all untreated but mixed results. The output has definitely fallen since all the regulations went into effect, out of curiosity since they banned(or heavily taxed) rough to try to increase the economy by finishing the stones in country do you know if that 750kg refers to mined supply or finished stone exports? I only saw that number on Wikipedia and not really sure where to look to confirm the validity of the numbers (not even sure if its readily available yet) In my experience water has made the colour disappear and although it can come back 2 out of my 8 stones went cloudy white and still have not returned to original crystal clarity after almost a year. I read some peoples personal experience of it taking over 3 years to return. In my personal experience another 2 out of 8 stones have cracked within a year of owning them, which made me pull back on buying to many. Who knows though maybe the humidity up here has something to do with it. (All 8 stones welo by the way pretty sure the are from Wegel Tena I don't own any from Eita ridge...yet) Yup loving gemstones lately, hopefully they will do well in the future. Have you had any cut gem quality corundum's crack on you or only specimen grade stones? I have never heard of that happening without force. Thanks mate! Would love to see the photo, only seven years in I think there will be a gradual rise in price every year it proves its durability.
