Print

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

[ASO]

Yes I absolutely agree with Bluetangclam and they probably got that msg across in a more easy to understand way than I did.  I think that the only other point I was trying to make was if you have a large stone with inclusions rather than keeping it big and ugly sometimes you can cut it down with minimal loss to make it better looking and more valuable and shouldn't worry abut the loss of cts.  Sometimes cutting it into a set or sweet of matching clean stones is the way to go if you wont have to much loss and have some problems to work around, sets command a higher price per ct.  Of course if a stone has a good pattern and a brightness of 5 and good contrasting colors you should always try and keep it as large as possible for specimen purpose if anything, you never know when the next big one will come along.  For commercial quality I wouldn't worry about it to much.   

[ASO]

In the last video series I did on YouTube I talked about this a bit.  I had a 270ct chunk of LR seam opal that I had to make some decisions with.  I could have had a big ugly 150ct semi black carving worth between $60 and $80/ct that would have taking me a long time to do.  Or cut the stone into higher quality smaller stones worth from $150 to $600/ct some with nice patterns and color on black.  It would have cut a $10000 to $12000 carving, but instead I cut it down exposed some better color that wouldn't have bean seen otherwise and cut 75cts of opal worth $15000 that someone will actually be happy to adorn.  All in all every opal is as different from the next as snowflakes are and they all need some though during the cutting process in order to end up with the nieces most valuable stone or stones as you possibly can. 

good luck

[ASO]

What Bluetangclan said about the instructor was interesting and true.  I have witnessed what some of the famous opal cutters in Australia can make on commission for contract cutting large top quality gems.  Many in lightning ridge get between 20% and 30% of the final selling price of the stone.  This makes them essentially partners in the stone that they are working on.  That can be very big $$$ as Bluetangclan said the instructor could buy a Ferrari with the stone she received as payment for the work done.  Sometimes the cutter will get paid in cash, sometimes in high end rough, and sometimes as a % of the sale if they don't mind waiting.
I know of one that could stand to make about $600000 as a 20% cutting fee after the sale of a very impressive opal specimen if it goes for the appraised value.  Makes me want to move and open a cutting shop lol.   

[lapidaryrough]

Yes, What is Opalite  cheap cousin of opal.

[ASO]

Opalite is defiantly a cheep cousin of opal if you agree that family can be grown in test-tubes.  It is a man made type of glass that resembles moonstone more closely than opal.  It isn't even a lab created opal like Gilson but it could look good siting in a bowl in the center of a table with a candle on top.

[lapidaryrough]

Blue bed thunder eggs, iv dug on the far right side of the face of blue bed are half opalite junk balls. 

[gemfeller]

Blue bed thunder eggs, iv dug on the far right side of the face of blue bed are half opalite junk balls.

The name opalite is confusing because it's both the trade name of a man-made glass opal simulant mentioned by ASO, and natural non-precious opal aka "common opal".  It can form in association with agate in some thundereggs and nodules, and is also found in massive form.  Years ago I saw boulders of pink and blue opalite as big as VW bugs that had been unearthed by heavy equipment in a power line construction project in Idaho. 

Natural opalite comes in many colors like the fine green material from Indonesia, Africa and Macedonia; the fine blues and pinks from Peru; the red/orange/yellow fire opals of Braazil, Mexico and Oregon and elsewhere; blues from Idaho and elsewhere; black, amber, and probably other colors I can't bring to mind at the moment.  Some opalite colors have good commercial value when cut as gems.