Rumour Has It...

A 1 - 2 million dollar pocket of Opal has just been won at Wee Warra / Mulga's near Lightning Ridge. It was dug out of the floor when they were cleaning up a run......Needless to say the bar was open and flowin' at Sheepyards a couple of night ago!....It is well publicized locally but no names at this stage as that needs to be double checked with the miners before naming them. Thanks for the info Ridgey Didge!

No Tax or Duty from Australia to USA

Did you know The Free Trade Agreement between Australia and the USA means that there are no taxes or duty for goods (jewellery) imported into the USA from Australia.

Opal Patterns

I was reading more information about opals today and stumbled upon http://www.molsci.csiro.au on this website I found this informative piece about Opal patterns. They also have a few photo examples that you might want to check out.

Types & Patterns of Gem Opal

The descriptions below are taken, by kind permission, from Andrew Cody's book Australian Precious Opal (R1481). The reader should refer to that publication for an authoritative account of Australia's national gemstone: Block pattern: pattern displaying large particles of colour Broad flash: large areas of flash in the opal Chaff pattern: small blocks of colour giving an appearance of chaff Chinese writing: patches of colour forming hieroglyphs reminiscent of Chinese script Crystal: transparent or translucent opal where the colours are sharp and visible below the surface Fire opal: a term used for that opal where the base colour (as distinct from the diffraction colours) has a red or orange tone. This material generally comes from Mexico Flagstone: a pattern having definite patches of colour with the appearance of flagstone paving. Less regular than harlequin Flash: a pattern which consists of large flashing areas of colour Harlequin: very rare and most sought after opal, the colours form naturally in a chequerboard pattern. This is a collector's item footnote Jelly: transparent opal with 'jelly' appearance, colours generally hazy Milky: an opal with a creamy body colour which dominates the diffracted colour Multi-fire: a stone which has most colours without any particular colour dominating. Pinfire: a pattern of tiny dots of colour across the stone. Red on black: type of black opal which displays predominantly red. Extremely valuable. Ribbon pattern: colour bands across the stone. Rolling flash: unusual pattern displaying colours which 'roll' across the stone. Straw pattern: rare pattern; the colours in the opal look like straws.

Unlucky? I think not!

Opal fossils at Lightning Ridge have been found to date back to the Cretaceous Period from 144 million years ago. Opal has a very long history; opal artifacts have been discovered in East Africa that are several thousand years old.

The Romans believed opal to be lucky and they established it as a gemstone, obtaining their supplies from traders in the Middle East. The Roman name opalus is based on an ancient Indian word meaning precious stone. The Romans valued opal above all other gems, believing it to combine the beauty of all precious gems. It is well documented in Roman history that Caesars gave their wives opal for good luck. The opal in Roman times was believed to have come from the Hungarian opal mines which operated right up until 1932.

When high quality Australian opal appeared on the market in the 1890's it became a serious threat to the diamond industry and it is understood that diamond cartels actively spread the false rumour that opal was an unlucky gem trying to reverse documented history of opal being the 'lucky' stone. Some of this mud stuck and became an 'old wives' tale which is sometimes still repeated today by people who don't know the history.

Sources:

Opals by Fred Ward, Gem Book Publishers, 1997.
Australian Precious Opal by Andrew Cody, 1991.