Australian vs Ethiopian Opal by PulitzerOpal

[OpalSpectrum]

cool video about difficult topic
this is something I wanted to talk about for a long time but I stay quiet because there is a lot to say



greets

[PinkDiamond]

Ya gotta love all his tongue-in-cheek comments, and when he gets to the meat of the issue he's right on, and tells it like it is. That was a very good one OS, and very entertaining, too. Thanks so much for sharing it with us, and don't ever hesitate to speak your mind here. We're all adults who play nice together, so we can take it no matter which side of the issue others are on since everyone's entitled to their own opinion, and everyone's experiences with the various types of opals vary. Thanks again, I enjoyed that.

[OpalSpectrum]

Yes he is funny dude and it's great that he made this video because this could turned into riots LOL
as an opal enthusiast I love all types of opals and I don't HATE on any opal > maybe except fake opals but in fact I don't hate fake or dyed opals but the junk sellers/dealers !
and you know Pink that I was 'opal Don Quixote' from the beginning fighting almost alone with them etc...
because junk sellers Welo opal had bad reputation from the beginning but some Ozzie miners/sellers hate on Welo and they are spreading bad info about it which is crazy because they didn't made nothing for years to promote AU opals ( except people like Justin from BlackOpalDirect who alone made more then whole Australian opal industry ever !!! ) and now they woke up and try to 'rule' the market !
but what they don't realize is that now opals are more popular thanks to Ethiopian Welo opals and the whole opal market exist thanks to Welo.

there is a lot more but I will not talk about it

greets

[Artfldgr]

eventually Ethiopian opals price will catch up its still early in its life..
and as with everything, they will eventually restrict the mining and sales and the prices will change.
If you pay attention to it, you will notice that is a common history with lots of gems...

[SwordfishMining]

I love the fact there is no mention of Virgin Valley or Spencer mines in America or Queterro Mexicos famous Fire Opal. He should have stated sedimentary or volcanic (volcanic has more Reds). I consider brown a variation of black, like in smokey quartz since our American Brown shade comes from black carbon or black manganese diluted in the opal itself, not a dead black layer behind a crystal layer. Colors are the same colors around the world, but the opal has different ratios. The "Honeycomb" pattern was well known from Virgin Valley for a century before they mined it in Africa. We call it plume pattern though and the best makes 6 rayed stars he has never seen from anywhere else on the planet.
Its a good thing most people never soak their opal jewellery & most all unstable opal broke during cutting already so being hydrophane rough does not matter. I bake mine in the oven to return the color in 1/2 hr not days if i want the play of color to return instantly. I would never display an Australian opal in the direct sun (its in water or in the shade under lights at outdoor shows lasting a month) as Australian opals has cracked on me over the years. The Mintabie dealer at last years show had mostly unsuitable for gem material as rough for sale left and many of the cut stone had cracks or crazing. $4 a gram at that. There are no grounds to say Ethiopian opal is not heirloom value until they are breaking and proven as non heirloom value and no longer bought. I still think bad mouthing "others opals" or not mentioning them at all, shows he really is biased. If it walks like a duck and quacks like a duck...

[Artfldgr]

Cool...
and i never mentioned it, but your name minus mining, reminds me of the marx brothers...

id mintabe in coober peddy? i have a piece of white
i also have a white opal that looks like it has no play, then the sun hits it, and bang, its red otherwise its white.
hope i didnt lose it...

walks like a duck, its duck soup?

[SwordfishMining]

It actually was sort of Honorarium to them when we were picking all our secret code names in college. For laughs and giggles i carry the White House switchboard number in my address books under the current presidents code name from the secret service. Later in mining, it reminded me of the peep hole being slammed in Zeppos face at the speakeasy, and you had to pay for each unique named claim on a map even if they were contingent, so I went with the sound unique name instead of trying to telegraph the product with the name. I lost track of more opals than i ever sold. Can you imagine if all the miners stashes were uncovered, cut and displayed; what that would do to the investment stone market? Life is a grand comedy just waiting for the curtain call. Well same thing i guess if the true numbers of sapphires or diamonds or emeralds were used in the pricing structure with all the hoards and collections included instead of just the "available" production. The password is always swordfish is also a youtube video.

[Pulitzeropal]

Somebody who watched this video was kind enough to give me the link to this forum and ... Well, I am an opalholic, so I figured that I must belong here. The posts about the video are flattering. Thank you!

I admit that I know next to nothing about US opal. I have been buying specimens on eBay in anticipation of making a video about Virgin Valley and Spencer opal. I bought my first Mexican opal in February (2019) in Tucson. I have a video called something like "The Great Opal Quiz" that mentions Mexican (fire) opal, but I will need to spend a lot of time with both Mexican and US opal before I can do them justice in a video. Now that is not to say that I am NOT willing to make a fool of myself, but I usually try not to.

I am glad that I found you guys -- "brothers of a different mother."

[PinkDiamond]

Yes, you have found a home among kindred spirits, so welcome to the club. You've come to the right place for information on all sorts of opal from anywhere it's found, and we look forward to you adding your input. We shorten names around here, so I'll ask if you'd prefer to be called PO, or Puli? I favor Puli because I had a Hungarian Puli for 18 years, but that's just me so your choice.

[OpalSpectrum]

Hi Don and Welcome
good to see you here
btw. I knew I will get in trouble for my comment LOL