Virgin Valley N1 Black Opal Limb Cast - unique color pattern, need help

[Shea_O]

Hi all!

I would like to introduce myself, my name is Casey and this is my first post here on opalholicsanonymous! Last year I was inspired by a close friend who is a rock hound nearly twice my age and I caught the opal fever from him! I have known him for many years and now that I've returned to my home town area from college and started to settle into the working life I have found myself with much more free time.

My friend mined a stunning opal limb cast from the Virgin Valley about 5 years ago and got it out of his safe to show me back in May (2017). Once I had laid eyes on what he had mentioned so many times in passing, I realized that I had no clue about the kind of beauty of opal. Prior to this introduction to my friend's limb cast I had never even heard of precious opal -- but my heart skipped a beat when I saw such beauty. I was speechless at my friends specimen, which he has aptly named "Oh My" - for good reason!

We planned an opal mining trip together for 5 months and were targeting the beginning of October (2017), two weeks before most of the mines close for the season. I was aware of the steep costs involved and PAINFULLY saved my spare money, even altering my budget as far as weekly groceries! I fell in love with my crock pot during this time! $20 can buy 2 meals a day for almost a week! I bought all the hand tools I would need and diligently planned the trip for 5 months, all the while studying on the geology of the Virgin Valley, its tendencies for opal bearing strata and wise mining strategies.

Anyways, my friend was experiencing some financial difficulty a few weeks before we had planned to go out together and wasn't able to go. So I had to go by myself out into the Nevada desert. I was intimidated but also very excited. My painstaking preparation certainly paid off and I feel that through my incredibly hard work at the Royal Peacock I was blessed by the cosmos. I must have swung my rock pick over 20,000 times in two days at the Royal Peacock (allowed 8hrs a day to dig at the bank).

I found a wondrous N1 limb cast that has every color of the rainbow in it and also a directional broadflash that I've dubbed "Peacock Broadflash". I made a youtube channel (see videos below) to upload content onto so that I can share my findings. I found this specimen on my second day and struck the opal at an angle with my rock pick, fortunately sheering off the end instead of spider-web cracking the stone. Swinging at an angle was a conscious effort, for th very reason of preserving any opal I may find after having seen so many videos of cracked specimens coming from the VV.

(watch these in HD)
Small piece displaying all its colors:


Small piece's "Peacock Broadflash"


The parent stone, "The Black Hole" as I have named it


"Oh My" my friend's opal that started this amazing journey



I have small fragments of the N1 limb cast sitting on a shelf in my bedroom, in the open air, and see no crazing about 3 months after mining it. I've read quite a bit on the tendencies of the VV material to craze and the lengths required to protect against this (keeping the big pieces in water since the moment I excavated them).

I made contact with an individual who lives near to me with great lapidary skills. Cutting opal is a passion of his and he claims he has a method he's worked up to 50% success on stabilizing VV material. I'm aware that the Iron sulfides in N1 material, and their density while attributing to the opaque nature of N1 material also increases the stability. So far this N1 material has been in the stabilization process for 3 months and no damage has occurred.

MY QUESTION FOR THE COMMUNITY:

What kind of value can I place on this quality of black opal? I understand that N1 with all colors is quite rare but I have no clue if this can be compared to what I'm seeing with Australian Black Opal prices. Which is mind-bending. I'm not quite 30 years old and I'm having a hard time comprehending the significance of my find.

I need your help in comprehending just what I have here... My feeling currently is that I wouldn't sell this material, once stable and cut (it's gotta get to this point first, I know nothing is garunteed!) until I know what I have. Especially considering the pattern in it which i have seen nowhere else. What do you think?

Thank you for taking the time to read this post,
Casey

Attached are some still photos. I'm not exactly certain what to call the pattern, so far calling it "Peacock Flash"

[PinkDiamond]

Oh goodie, a new opalholic's prize to drool over, and what a find!

Warmest welcome to the forum, Casey, and let me be the first to say, WOW! Those are some opals you showed us, and I'm swooning.

I have little experience with VV opal, much less valuation, but if John pops in later, I'll make sure he sees your thread since he's a miner out there. and is most likely able to help you.

In the meantime, how big is it, and how much does it weigh as is?

Stabilizing it is an option, but be aware that stabilization is a form of treatment, and by law must be disclosed if it's sold, and treated anything goes for less than untreated, so that's always a consideration.

I'm really looking forward to seeing it cut, so please show us the finished stone, and if you don't mind, where do you get your domes?

Again, welcome to the forum. We look forward to hearing and seeing more from you.

*edited to add*
You'll see the youtube option on the right side of the others like bold, italics, etc. in a reply pane, and all you need is the actual number of the video between the youtube brackets, and they will embed on the Board, as I have done for you. If you click to edit your post you can see the format.

[SwordfishMining]

Hiya Shea_O. Thats a great opal you found. I called that burning fire before and fern garden. Its a version of Plume/ribbon broken on the sides of the tubes i think. Id leave the bigger one wet until i saw how the little ones did and also they dry better slabbed to size instead of trying to make an impossibly big gemstone (usually water loss forces some kind of breakage in thick material during drying) Ill assume some of the shards are being stabilized and just drying is no process, just chemical ones like glues are. Ive had a very hard time breaking the thousand a ct barrier due to the lies that no virgin valley opal can be cut without chemical treatments by the ruthless competition from down under. They will get over it someday as all gemstones are being mined out as fast as possible. Keep an eye on them as opal has a bad habit of evaporating around thieves. The bottom line is price it to how it looks compared to the australian competition and know you'll have to take less, like they tend to also when an actual customer with hundreds in their hands starts bargaining. Maybe not for the bribe priced pieces, but they should go for that much. I've seen many a virgin Valley gemstone in australian dealers cases to not miss that wood sale.

[SwordfishMining]

PS: You'll save ct weight by not taking off all that tan rind and its opacity wont go to crystal. Alot of it is as bright as the black below the surface
Dont forget a LOT of blacks have LOT of potch and matrix left on the back to improve stability and jack the weight imperfections be damned as unless it is a two sided stone, you never see the backs of set stones.

[Shea_O]

Oh goodie, a new opalholic's prize to drool over, and what a find!

Warmest welcome to the forum, Casey, and let me be the first to say, WOW! Those are some opals you showed us, and I'm swooning.

I have little experience with VV opal, much less valuation, but if John pops in later, I'll make sure he sees your thread since he's a miner out there. and is most likely able to help you.

In the meantime, how big is it, and how much does it weigh as is?

Stabilizing it is an option, but be aware that stabilization is a form of treatment, and by law must be disclosed if it's sold, and treated anything goes for less than untreated, so that's always a consideration.

I'm really looking forward to seeing it cut, so please show us the finished stone, and if you don't mind, where do you get your domes?

Again, welcome to the forum. We look forward to hearing and seeing more from you.

*edited to add*
You'll see the youtube option on the right side of the others like bold, italics, etc. in a reply pane, and all you need is the actual number of the video between the youtube brackets, and they will embed on the Board, as I have done for you. If you click to edit your post you can see the format.

Thank you for the warm welcome @PinkDiamond

The small piece in the dome showing the "Peacock Flash" weighs 2.34g. I suspect that if the clay were cleaned off, the stone would weigh just about 2g.

The Black Hole is quite large, it currently is about 60mm x 25mm x 20mm.....(LxWxH). I can't estimate the carat weight very well as is due to the potch and surrounding clay; I would say as it is now, which is the same as in the videos, is 40-50ct.

So I wasn't very clear with what I meant by "stabilization", I meant to say that the small piece has been drying out in a controlled environment. I called this "drying" process "stabilization" because in my mind, the desiccation of the stone is what can lead to crazing and so long as it ultimately becomes "dry" then it is "stable". So in this context, drying = stabilizing, albeit in a very controlled and slow manner that is so far 3 months into a 12 month process and no issues yet! Thank the stars!

The Black Hole is sitting in water in a temperature controlled environment that has no light. It's pretty much in stasis.

My domes were purchased at a regional gem and mineral trade show, where I took the small piece with me and took every opal vendor aside and showed it to them to try to gather an understanding of what I had come across. I can tell you that every single one of the vendors, having booths with gems and jewelry sprawled out across them for sale did not have anything on this level. They all swooned at the sight of this stone....I watched their eyes and despite the ones attempting straight faces, their eyes did deceive them. I spent 3.5hrs on a breadcrumb trail of names recommended to me, at this tradeshow, all the while wading through terrible mis-information and wives tales about opals until I came across a very different individual at the very end, who is currently my associate in this endeavor. I spent many months combing through the lies the Australians have spun about the other opals of the world... before I ever even owned my own opal or went to the VV! Unfortunately there are also very few reliable Indonesian sources too, but I know and work with a couple excellent ones. I want to go there some day and meet them.

I have a degree in biochemistry and know enough science to be genuinely curious about opals, but I do know there are a great many individuals in the world who could care less about knowing anything beyond their potential value and will hose anyone for the chance to make a buck. I've certainly got more to learn but I've done well to see through the BS and utter chaos of terrible information out there about opals. I also know that the individuals who DO know what they're talking about with respect to opals don't necessarily advertise their knowledge and have learned to thrive in this chaos. So being one to know the facts about opal is quite advantageous in the swirling mist of lies and confusion. I don't blame the knowledgeable individuals for not doing more to dispel the bad information but it makes this industry seem rife with underhandedness, I must say. My father could help me make serious investments that would benefit us both but he is too afraid once I explained just how bad the misinformation is. A pity. Damn being on this earth for only 30 years! Haha!


- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Hiya Shea_O. Thats a great opal you found. I called that burning fire before and fern garden. Its a version of Plume/ribbon broken on the sides of the tubes i think. Id leave the bigger one wet until i saw how the little ones did and also they dry better slabbed to size instead of trying to make an impossibly big gemstone (usually water loss forces some kind of breakage in thick material during drying) Ill assume some of the shards are being stabilized and just drying is no process, just chemical ones like glues are. Ive had a very hard time breaking the thousand a ct barrier due to the lies that no virgin valley opal can be cut without chemical treatments by the ruthless competition from down under. They will get over it someday as all gemstones are being mined out as fast as possible. Keep an eye on them as opal has a bad habit of evaporating around thieves. The bottom line is price it to how it looks compared to the australian competition and know you'll have to take less, like they tend to also when an actual customer with hundreds in their hands starts bargaining. Maybe not for the bribe priced pieces, but they should go for that much. I've seen many a virgin Valley gemstone in australian dealers cases to not miss that wood sale.

Hi @SwordfishMining

I have been watching your youtube videos for about 9 months while I learned about opals. You are a blessed man to have found so many wondrous stones! Thank you for the info regarding large stones drying out... I plan to keep The Black Hole in stasis until I'm utterly certain I know the best way of assuring its survival. I know that art can't be rushed! I'll need to learn muuuuuch more before I risk letting that beauty crack. I have had nightmares of it cracking! And I don't even cut opals yet haha! I want to learn how to work opals from rough to faceted jewelry though, but so many people can't stomach the risk of working VV material... finding someone knowledgeable and justifiably confident in their skills is a damn hard thing to find.

Have you had trouble breaking the $1k/ct barrier for completely finished N1 material? As in stable, cut and polished material? My understanding is that good N1 VV opal with all the colors is much more rare than even Aussy N1. I am documenting the journey of these stones I mined as thoroughly as possible by making posts about them on various forums on opals, including the International Gem Society's forums and Mindat. I'm hoping that by documenting the events with these stones, I can assure a prospective buyer of their authenticity and my genuine attempt at assuring they are handled responsibly and with due diligence. My associate who currently has the small piece in his possession and is "stabilizing" or "drying" it has built a name for himself and knows the right people. Having his name associated with this process should increase the value of my stone as well as having it appraised by a gemologist with the right kind of.....clientele.

[rocks2dust]

Gorgeous pieces, and great videos. I'd just add that there is a huge difference in per-carat price between what you can get for raw material or loose stones, and what a jewelry shop will charge retail for the same stone in a setting (no matter how simple).

[PinkDiamond]

You now have full run of the forum, so your posts will appear as you post them, and private messaging is now available to you, Casey; and r2d, there was a second post made that you could not see because of the '2 posts needing pre-approval rule', so scroll up above yours to read it.

You are certainly doing due diligence and learning what you should about your find, Casey. Kudos! I'm also glad you meant drying, and not treating your opal, so thanks for clarifying that, and that's a good idea to document your find in various places. Only rarely do newcomers arrive having studied and researched to the extent that you have, and you are to be commended for it.

[OpalSpectrum]

Welcome Shea_O good to see new opal enthusiast
yes there is a lot of misinformation about opals (in general) that's why here is the best place to find good info
why didn't you join before ?

I can't say to much about VV opal but I would keep it as specimen
all the best

[Shea_O]

Welcome Shea_O good to see new opal enthusiast
yes there is a lot of misinformation about opals (in general) that's why here is the best place to find good info
why didn't you join before ?

I can't say to much about VV opal but I would keep it as specimen
all the best

Hi @OpalSupreme

I didn’t join until I saw John Church make a post on the VV opal FB group, referring to this forum....I’ve looked around quite a bit for opal forums over the months, don’t know how I missed this one! May be due to the inactivity, seeing lots and lota of 2015,16 and the 2017 posts are mostly late year around when I had just found the opal.

I’m considering leaving the grey rind around The Black Hole and just getting down to the flat part of the stone just above the brown potch. EDIT: I need to reach out to some friends who have access to some high tech equipment and cut through that brown potch juuuust beyond the black opal. A laser? I worry about grinding down through that with the tiny little crack in the brown potch, that little V-notch there below the face of the stone. I’m betting the black opal is a separate layer than the brown potch and that the crack in the potch wouldn’t transfer into the black opal, but the traditional method of grinding on a wet wheel terrifies me. I’ve seen the harder gem stones, namely diamond, being cut with lasers and I bet that brown potch would slice off nicely to reveal the flat face of the Black Hole beneath it. At some point grinding will be necessary but I’d like to remove as much of that brown potch as possible before resorting to that. I do want to try to keep The Black Hole as large as possible, while revealing that flattened surface to get that real gemmy look of flashes and pure blitz...

EDIT: Going to use a slab saw of some kind with a very thin blade

[OpalSpectrum]

cutting opal with the laser is something new but not sure if it's possible
I guess temperature of the surface would be very hot which isn't good for opals
but you could make some tests with low grade material and maybe it will not explode

btw. grinding is one way of remowing potch and small imperfactions or cracks etc.. but other way is to use thin saw and cut off all the bad parts
> although I don't know how this would work with VV opals ? but I'm sure John can give you all the tips & tricks