Print

Please login or register.
1 Hour 1 Day 1 Week 1 Month Forever
Login with username, password and session length

[John Robinson]

Is there a chart somewhere that shows when a lower grade opal has no real value on the market? Most of what I have is low grade opal and it worth something to me for practice. However, before I completely trash them I would like to know which ones I should be extra careful with. I know size and play of color are the most important things and I wondered if there was a chart that showed these two scales cross referenced or something

[gemfeller]

Since there appear to be several beginning opal cutters on the Forum I'd like to suggest a couple of books that will help you along.  Forum responses simply can't contain the detail necessary to cover the topic well.  I think both books are still in print and available on line from Amazon.  If the price is a concern, consider the price of opal and how much you'll save by having some reliable instruction.

"Opal Cutting Made Easy" by Paul Downing Ph.D.

"Opal Identification and Value," same author.

I'd recommend taking the valuations in the latter book with a big grain of salt.  They're based on prices listed by "The Gem Guide," which is a very reputable publication but which experience has shown me (as a subscriber) to list prices far higher than those commonly encountered in most markets.  If you're dealing with Tiffany-level goods, maybe they'll work for you.  Otherwise you may find your offerings priced much higher than the competition.  Just my opinion.

Here's a PDF that also may be of interest to cutters:

http://www.gem.org.au/ckfinder/userfiles/files/OCT%2010%20web.pdf

Happy Opal Cutting!

[peruano]

I have seen color come from some of the ugliest rocks in the world.  My advice is to keep grinding if you see any color at all.  When its too small to hold on a finishing nail, you can put it aside to think about for awhile. 

[rocks2dust]

 

[Orrum]

Rx3

[John Robinson]

Thanks!
My immediate concern is the size. I don't see much value in stones less than a Ct. I have saved them anyway because they are still quite beautiful when viewed thru a loupe

[hummingbirdstones]

I agree with Gemfeller's suggestions, but I'll combine it into one book:  Opal & Gemstone Jewelry: Cutting*Designing*Setting.  It combines Opal Cutting Made Easy, Advanced Cutting and Setting and Opal Identification and Value all into one book.

You can get it on Amazon.  https://www.amazon.com/Opal-Gemstone-Jewelry-Cutting-Designing/dp/0981733603/ref=sr_1_6?ie=UTF8&qid=1503436898&sr=8-6&keywords=paul+downing

Opals under a carat sell all the time.  There are always people who can't afford big opals and big opal prices but want an opal.

[gemfeller]

Thanks for the update Robin.  Shows how seldom I order books these days.   

[ASO]

Defiantly save and use all of your color in some way or pass it along and buy more.  Any opal color has value, not always much but still more than most other rough out their.  Potch has some value but much lower than precious opal but it can still be used for making things.  I have seen some top gem quality opals under a ct selling for thousands of dollars gem black opal can be worth $10000 or more per ct.  You can also use many small stones put together to make different types of mosaic opal designs that can sell for big $$$ if done well.  I know that my miners in Lightning Ridge regularly sell gem chip jars full of less than 1ct stones on the regular for $9000 aud.  Personally I have many small bright stones with good patterns that are worth several hundred dollars each and I also have some large stones worth significantly less. 

[ASO]

The way I figure I can cut a large stone with OK color and spend several hours to do it well, large stones take longer to cut.  Or I can cut start to finish several small stones or pointers with top gem color and patterns that you can sell easier in 1 hour so if your time =$$$ you just have to figure out how to make the most $ in the least time.  In Tucson this year I asked many other dealers whats selling.  Everyone had the same reply, heaps of stones under $1000, a good amount from $1000 to $3000, some $5000 to $12000, a couple $15000 to $30000, and 1 or 2 really high end stones.  The thing is that you have to pay a premium for the large top cutters and d you will sit on them fro a while.  The profit and turnaround time on the smaller more affordable stones is much better per stone.

Hope this helps sort things out
Cheers Adam A&S Opals LLC

[John Robinson]

Thanks for the replies. I thought I had ruined some of these opals by inexperience or incompetence. It is nice to know that they are still worth something. I spent untold hours messing around with Mexican fire opals and only came up with ten cts of color for six stones.

[ASO]

The Mexican opal can have allot of clay or sand in it that you have to work around so the yield can be a bit lower than the Australian stuff.  Its kind of like cutting low grade nobbies or Ethiopian opal you just keep cutting until you have something worth saving.  Cutting seam opal will usually give you the best yield sometimes if your doing free-form opal cabs you can have a loss of less than 25%, thats considered unreal in the gem industry where a 60% to 75% loss is common.  You can buy small stones cheep and cut them fast and sell lots of them cheep more quickly, but opal prices are on a sliding scale.  For the same type of color and pattern the price goes up almost exponentially starting with pointers less than 1ct lets say a $500/ct stone, above 1ct to 3 or 4 the price of that same stone goes up so lets say now a 25% increase because of rarity so now $600/ct, then we get to the more desirable size say 4 to 12 ct because it can now be used for pendents and rings and all kinds of things so the price per ct goes up again some % lets say 30% now the same stone is worth probably $780/ct its the Goldy Lox size, above 12ct to 30ct isnt the most desirable size because the uses are limited so maybe a 10% increase now were at say $878/ct but their higher prices are justified by the extreme rarity factor, then above 30ct the price per ct starts to drop off a bit possibly say 20% or more because so few people will dangle a stone like that from their necks and also so few people can pay for a stone that large.  I don't have my actual facts and numbers with me so don't go by what I said as the law but just use it as a example of how opal pricing works and what to shoot for wen cutting.     

[John Robinson]

Thanks what I get from that is three grades
 under three cts (need accessory stones)
4 - 9  cts multi-use stand alones
10 - 20 cts Goldielocks

Anything over 20 needs to be cut so it can be sold
(Even my 64 ct white?)

[ASO]

Close start with under 1ct $, then from say 1-4ct$$, then 4-12ct$$$$, then 12-30ct$$$, and over 30ct$$.5.  So the 3 or 4 to 12ct if the Goldielocks size because you can use them for any type of jewelry so they have a bigger market and they are at that size big enough to see the patterns more clearly.  I wouldnt cut down your 64ct stone unless you have to in-order to work around inclusions, large stones still have allot of value per ct and they have a lot of cts.  If you do decide to cut it down for any reason try to make it into a suite because opal being so unique makes it very difficult to match and pairs and suite go for premiums so the cts you would loose would be made back  in a higher price per ct. 

Take your time and good luck   

[Bluetangclan]

My instructor had a giant piece of black opal, literally the size of my palm, decently thick that she polished. She said it was payment for cutting the other half of the stone which was even nicer. This thing was absolutely amazing, every square inch of it was a 5+ on brightness. As an opal every angle you look at was a different color. Had to have been several hundred ct at a minimum. It was at least a pound of rock. We asked her why she kept it. She was like," Do I look like the type of person who needs a Ferrari? I like to look at it and show you guys." Yeah, big opals are hard to sell, and yes ct for ct big 20+ ones sell for less than the 1-20ct range. But it is not a big negative per say. Once you are in the scale like the one she had, you are still talking hundred upon hundred per ct. If a normal 5 sold for  $1000 a ct, a 30ct plus stone might sell for $960 a ct. I don't have my book in front of me so I am just making these numbers up to show its not a massive loss per ct. I you are trying to sell a larger stone, you will get more for it, you just will sit on it longer.