Slow Opal

[SwordfishMining]

Yeah, tell me about shrinks with time. That really applies to special opals put away too. I was looking at some of the slabs I have for sale and realized some have prices & some have weights that need multiplied by the grams. What seems to be the per gram prices online you found in your shopping to be average now? Mine seem to have been priced at $2 for the ones i was not wanting to cut personally & 5 or ten for them after they were ready to sell. The best usually got lost on the first screen (Into the wifes stash).
Organization is my issue. It's too much living well to just mine, without all the back end shop work to keep the buckets out of the driveway. Oh well. The smoke has blow out & I hear an opal calling my name. An entire unclaimed hillside to be exact.....

[skywalker753]

Ya, the prices I'm paying are pretty much all over the map. With rough Boulder Opal WAY cheaper than most others, regular rough matrix opal next cheapest, good quality rough matrix opal not cheap at all (can be expensive), and then Coober Pedy, and then Lightning Ridge material. Theres' been lots of exceptions but thats generally how it usually goes. I've found most online stuff in Australia is carat based, with some listed in grams. Its like miners and store owners talk in grams and ounce weight, but are actually selling in online stores in carat weight. 5 carats per gram if I'm right.
I am not trying to be vague, I've just paid from .21 cents per carat up to 10 dollars per carat for rough of varying type and quality, and if I gotta have it right now. Right now the very highest quality rough matrix opal can equal Black Opal rough, or exceed it sometimes. Lots of "it depends", I know.....lol.....and this is just what I've seen and experienced. Watch, someone will say, "hey, I get it for half that price!..."...lol....

[PinkDiamond]

I know what you mean, and when I'm trying to comprehend the actual size of a stone I will sometimes pull out a ruler and measure out the dimensions of the stone on a scrap of paper so I won't be disappointed when the stone arrives.

That one certainly lends itself to a triangular shape so I think that's what I would do with it, and I'm looking forward to seeing how it comes out.

[SwordfishMining]

If I can read the fingerprints, I know it isnt too big LOL.
Thats about what i found too, all along. Pricing is individual.Material seems to start at 1$ a gram for play of color & grade is what is the diff from one to another. The 50 dollar jars turn into 4,500 dollar jars if they are brighter or cuttable. All mining districts have the seconds to dispose of that are not the top grades as do the cutting factories which sets the commercial prices.
I think i was paying 50 a pound for Koroit to get the small pieces instead of the bags full for less. All of my rough was hand picked if I was buying it.
Then with a black light after about 1996 as we were still open after dark with lights at the fairs back then.
Boulder is SOOOO heavy tho hosted in ironstone & not light as wood wood, LOL. Hint, the resin does make it weigh more. Like a lot of the woods, it breaks thru the best color, which you couldn't see to cut to in any case.
For me its easiest to just pick the most pleasing look and accept the "fun stones" treated prices as the pendents weigh in the grams, not cts. I wont take that for the dried blacks gemstones in the display out in the sun tho. I have to cut them & set them in gold to get market prices & gold is expensive and thieves like it too much. Id rather have the mineral rights.
In any case. The specimen market keeps us alive with all the rockhounds competing with the sellers to just find their own. I tend to price my specimens by how many days of searching it takes to find each ones grade at the best fee dig.
My best mine was an opal a month sort of place but they were big unique blacks. Any of my claims puts out precious like every other time i go there if i am working after any. Which brings me back to a hillside to test dig. Tomorrow.
I do mostly free forms to retain the gem, not just to clutch at the grams.
If you have a big bag of 'clean rough', why not cut sellable/settable ovals?

[skywalker753]

The matrix opal today turned out to be a bit problematic. Not a bust, just not really good. Cracks made it necessary to grind off way more than I wanted, and then the resulting thin areas were, well, too thin...lol...so took those down some too. Then different densities made the carbonization take unevenly, which is fine but doesn't make the stone look any better! So, done for today, its 12 carats of ok-ness...lol... The advertised gold color went away as well. It does sparkle a bit with mostly green play of color.
I'll probably take off some more later and end up with 9-10 carats final. They're always fun to do, not always gems. I think I know someone who would love this as is, but the thing is, I couldn't give it to them as is...lol...(it is not as good as it can be).
Ok, thats it for now.

[skywalker753]

I'm cleaning up yesterdays matrix opal today, just some 400, 600, 800, 1500, 2000, and cerium. May have to recarbonize, don't know yet.
Not gonna transform it, but will make it incrementally better. Sometimes thats enough.
Then, select a better rough for the next Matrix Opal!!!...lol...
I am aware that the pics are where its at, so am working as much as I can. No getting around that fact that it takes a long time by hand (and I wouldn't have it any other way!!!)...lol...
I, uh, did some online price checking for my own future buys... whenever I think prices on OA and at other Australian based online stores are high, I just go to one of the four letter E stores...wow...in at least a few or some cases prices there are 2 to 3 times as high as OA and other AU stores. At least at the moment I checked it looked like the very same stones that a month ago were for sale on OA. Well, go figure, I'm all for free enterprise, and not looking for an arguement. I'd buy rough matrix opal from one of the E stores, no problem, but probably only if I needed the convenience of a faster shipping (US based stores for me).
I'm looking in my rough matrix opal stash for mainly blue with a touch of red, we'll see if I can find that for the next one...

[PinkDiamond]

From what you said about that stone I expected it to look lighter in base color and without much opal color, but that's not half bad so I would still call it a success.

[skywalker753]

Hey, thanks Pink, thats kind of you to say. And SwordfishMining, thats a whole lot of hard earned knowledge and experience you have. All I can add is that I'm gaining knowledge as I buy, and cut and polish by hand. I always say, "I'm getting there"...lol...and its true in this (opal) instance. My hope is to do two things: Get pretty good at this. Got a ways to go. A good ways to go yet... And, Two, maybe inspire others to give this matrix opal (or solid opal) deal a shot of their own. Got a ways to go there too...LOL...

[skywalker753]

Its on the same desk, but a little different desk lamp and the sun is going down, but, it does have better and deeper color and polish overall.
Took off about one carat, and carbonized, and polished. I like it better, lol...
On to the next one, still haven't found the dark blue one with some red I was looking for. I'll find it.

[skywalker753]

I think I may have mentioned this before, but I get one or two matrix opals per set of each grit wet/dry sandpaper. I had tried to get more than that, and in most instances the sandpaper LOOKS fine, but it has lost its grit. Where a stage usually takes 10-15 minutes, with the used paper it takes 30-45 minutes per stage. For me, once I found this to be consistent, it is MUCH better to just swap out to new paper after two matrix opal stones. It doesn't cost much more (well some but not much) and saves time, sweat, and sanity.
I had heard from a couple different really experienced people that paper that was "broken in" good did a better job. I've found doing this by hand for many dozens of stones, that its better (for me at least) to regularly swap out to new. I WILL say that that sometimes lightly used and super wet and soft paper DOES do a better job when close to the polishing stage. Thats at about 1500 grit to 2000 grit for me.