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I would like to share really cool story
(*the owner gave me the permission to use the photos but I will not share all the details)

somebody was looking for info and thoughts about the opal he own

here is the photo he provided and info saying it's Lightning Ridge , a bit over 5ct
plus he mentioned that this was his 1st black opal

*what do you think about it ??



** to be honest my 1st thought was > smoked Welo but I was not 100% sure

there was only this photo so not the easiest way to ID opal
but note the potch webbing and typical type of pattern & fire which is common in Ethiopian opals but quite unusual in Australian opals -- although it does occur in Lightning Ridge (white dark or black) opals










it turned out that he actually *cut this from rough (*he didn't finish it)
and this was the rough he bought
it was nice (inexpesive) specimen he bought and decided to check what's inside becasue there was little trace of color







and he found this

he isn't pro cutter and was too scared to cut it so he decided to ask for help some profesional opal cutter
who made good job cutting nice free-form


now he is in the process of selling it for quite good profit

can you imagine it was his first ever black Lightning Ridge opal
find of a lifetime



that is why opals are soooo cool > and I don't mean the $$$ aspect

Wow, he scored a good one, and he was wise to have an experienced cutter who knew what they were doing cut it. It is curious that there's so much red in it since red is one of the least seen colors in LR material, and therefore more valuable, but red is quite common in Ethiopian so you may be on to something. The problem is we would need to see it in hand to detect if it was smoked or not, and even then sometimes it's a tough call to make. For some reason, based only on the photo, I'm inclined to say it's not smoked, but as we all know nothing can be determined as fact from a photo. Thanks for sharing this with us. You have to love it when you find a piece of inexpensive rough and it turns out to have gorgeous opal inside, like a Tootsie roll pop the best part is in the middle.

I thought is was Australian. Photo was just from one direction about defining anything. Glad to see it was a knobby LOL. Great find. I was ready for you to say he had you cut it.

SwordfishMining wrote: ↑Tue Jan 30, 2024 7:49 pm I thought is was Australian. Photo was just from one direction about defining anything. Glad to see it was a knobby LOL. Great find. I was ready for you to say he had you cut it.

I wish lol
after seeing the photo of the rough I knew it was real Lightning Ridge
*rough Welo is quite different
but without the photo of rough it would be very hard to ID this opal and give a 'good opinion'

in this case he had the original rough but a lot of time people buy finished stones and never see the rough - which mean they have to trust the seller

he was super lucky and scored BIG win !
*note that the original seller of the rough missed this and sold it as inexpensive specimen
which only shows that opals are like a box of chockolates , you never know...