I posted on the other place asking about advice on buying doublets for a ring I'm making*. Basically the kid let wanted big and blinging and I thought that a doublet might be the way to go. That said, looking on the auction site, there were doublets which were a similar price as solid opals. They sometimes had similar levels of fire as well.
I get that black opals are more valuable than white ones, but because the info for doublets is a bit scant, it's hard to work out if the high price for some doublets is down to the the use of say LR slices or what. This is now just an exercise in curiosity, but it would be good to know what to look for in a quality doublet for future reference.
*I've since decided I'm going to take a leap and try and cut the stone myself from a bit of rough I got off eBay.
Doubles vary... Lots of boulder opal doubles out there now with lots of colors and fires. The best thing I'd say is sort them by price and look for the best you can afford vs the size. You sshould be able to get bigger as doublet. Depends on vendor.
Glad your cutting your own, but be aware of the deadline. Always good to have a finished stone in reserve in case you get heavy handed on the one you are cutting... Practice, practice, practice and then repeat!
the deadline has been and gone alas. The first thing was a silver and gold Mobius strip bangle but I somehow messed up my math and it turned out too small. It fits me, but I sold it to recoup the cost of the gold. Rather than a surprise we sat down and discussed what she would like instead if she didn't want a replacement. The response was a large blinging ring and could she pretty please have an Opal but one with more fire than my first attempt. I aim to please the little princess.
I thought the price would depend a lot on the vendor. There was a really nice solid stone at a good size for about $60 we both liked, but some of the feedback was a bit iffy plus searching on the old forum it seems a few people had had issues with this seller before so I thought best not to risk it. I might still get a doublet anyway in case I get nothing very spectacular from the rough. I'm probably weird but I actually like the more subtle stones. I'm still obsessively chasing the flashes of colour on the one I did myself and I did that is over a year ago now. I should make it into a ring or pendant for myself.
It's Trueblueopals. They have what appear to be some lovely stones but some of the feedback suggested they had been photoshopped plus not knowing where the stones were coming from, either Oz or the USA made me a bit suss of them. I did a search on the other forum and it looked like a couple of people had had issues with them as well.
Trueblue has been around for along time and I believe are friends with opal auctions. They have beautiful stones but I have delt with them on a different purchase and was not happy. She lives in Arizona with some one else in Australia. Her brother announced that he was no longer affiliated with her. I hope this makes sense.
Yes, it does 8's, and likely explains why her brother publicly stated that he would no longer be associated with her.
Photoshopping opals has been a problem with some sellers over there for years, as it is with so many other sites, so it's best to steer clear of the ones whose feedback indicates that's what they're doing. That said,they're also supposed to have at least one shot in hand, as well as one on a white background since so many shoot their opals on black to accentuate the colors, which isn't a bad thing as long as the other shots are included so you can see what the opal looks like in hand, so if they don't include those shots, I would ask for them to be taken and shown to you before you bid with them.
PinkDiamond ISG Registered Gemologist
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I don't know the ins and outs or the history about who is who at opal auctions. I had kind of assumed (perhaps naively) that the auction was independent of the people who sold on there.
I am kind of wary about feedback including negative because I know as a regular eBay seller that there is just no pleasing some folks and I'm also aware that opals can be tricky to photograph... I notice one seller saying explicitly the fab mauve flashes in photos are not visible to the eye and I saw a post somewhere of a buyer moaning his stone looked nothing like the one he bought, ergo the pic was photoshopped. when he took a pic to prove his point, it came out looking like the one in the auction.
I'll see how the rough I have polishes up and if I bought a turkey, I might give TBO a go.
