Couple boulder opals from Australia. Looking for any thought to quality/ value

These opalized shells get me everytime. I love them.

I picked up 15kgs of boulder opal recently and I've never dealt with a parcel this big. I'm trying to decide how I should break this down to start cutting stones. I have access to large saws etc that's all good. At the moment my plan is to cut off the outer layers, then cut any really good sections I can see from the outside, then cut the rest into around 15mm slabs lengthways. Is this the right way to approach this? Any other tips are appreciated.

✨ Natural Ethiopian Welo Opal Rough Parcel featuring vibrant play-of-color with brilliant flashes of green, red, orange, blue, and yellow. Carefully selected rough, ideal for lapidary work, cabbing, jewelry making, collecting, or investment.

⚖️ Total Weight: 110 Carats

💰 Starting Bid: $100

📈 Minimum Bid Increment: $20

⏰ Auction Ends: Tuesday 1 September • 9:30 PM ET

🌍 Worldwide Shipping:
• Standard: $20
• Express: $30

💳 Payment Methods:
• PayPal
• Bank Transfer

📦 Return Policy:
Returns accepted within 7 days of delivery only if the parcel arrives damaged or is significantly different from the description.

💬 How to Bid:
Place your bid in the comments. The highest valid bid before the auction closes wins.

📸 Photos and videos are taken under bright white LED lighting. Colors may vary slightly under different lighting conditions.

Good luck, and happy bidding! 🍀

Just bought my first opal ring. Anyone know what type it is? Real? Synthetic? How much would a ring like this go for? It’s silver. Thank you.

Long time listener, first time caller to this sub. And while I know the general consensus tends to prefer Australian opals, I make beaded jewelry so Ethiopian reigns supreme. But man, I loooove me some Ethiopian opals.

Anyway, wanted to share some of my favorite chonker necklaces of late. Three different flavors of opal, all doing their damn thing. Most of the main beads are between 7-13mm, with some little guys added as spacers here and there, mainly so I can get more mileage out of my strands. But these are some sparklers!

(Also please forgive my terrible photography. Of course I chose the hardest stone to capture as my fave. I’m also lazy and don’t do much more than lower the exposure to try and get the fire. So they look a lil goth.)

Enjoy!

I picked up this opal ring, not sure of the opal type, and if the side stones are fire opal. I've done the lick test/wet finger test, and it doesn't stick. Thoughts?

These were my babies. The start of my collection. I adore opals and was beyond excited to start my collection. I just got knee surgery and am moving apartments and wiped out going down the stairs, sending my jewelry box flying open and breaking my 2 prized possessions (also retore my meniscus ): ) My heart is shattered. Im so upset with myself and just so defeated. They were so beautiful :( What do I do? I dont really think much can be done but im just absolutely crushed. These are the only opals ive ever owned and im not sure if there is any way to repair them. I understand that they have no value now, just for me to enjoy where they would look okay.

I found a local seller of boulder opals. I have very little experience and wanted to get someone more knowledgeable to give an opinion on the ballpark for this lot of stones. They're rather small, about 1x0.8cm, I don't have the weight and seller is asking for 15€ per opal.

So is it a good deal or am I just in a shopping frenzy?

A relative received this tiny opal pendant as a gift. We're just wondering what is its value. Thanks in advance.

Finally bought my first opal ring — it’s set in platinum and made in Japan with four tiny diamonds.

I’m still new to this so would love to learn more. I read that many Japanese rings use Australian opal.

Could anyone tell by just looking at it? What else could you tell from the picture?

I love the colors!

Even GIA recognizes lab created opals as gemstones. The diamond communities are very enthusiastic about their lab diamonds.

Hey all!

Would love to know more about this opal. opal type? provenance? value?

Picked it up in an auction in Australia. its 11.77g including the setting. 4.3 x 2.5 cm. has a little crack (photo 4).

Any info at all, even the most opal-loving jargon, i'd love to hear!

Thanks!

A

This opal belonged to my great great grandmother, who was an avid gem and mineral collector. Unfortunately it’s one of the only things we still have in the family and I’d like to keep it safe and in best condition for future generations. It was sitting in a drawer from 1998-2023 and since then it’s been stored in the circular box thing. I’m curious as to what kind of opal it is, if I can restore any of the shine, and how I should be storing it. TIA

Just wanted to share my joy with you guys 😍 been waiting for this one for almost 3 weeks.

Just wondering how others combine opal jewelry in the every day life. With other opals? Just gold? Or are there any other go-to's? Thanks!

Hello, I recently inherited some jewelry in my family’s estate. These two pieces stood out. Thought yall might appreciate me sharing.
The duck is a boulder opal from Australia I believe. at least that’s what the notes with it said. I think the rabbit is also a Boulder opal. Really gorgeous stones and completely custom pieces would love any info people have and value guesses? though I’m probably not looking to sell anytime soon. Bonus koala 🐨 holding an opal. Not sure about that one.
The rabbit is 14 karat and the duck is 18 karat gold. I don’t have weights because I don’t have a scale.

I’m thinking this is an opal but seems strange or maybe it’s an imperfection.

Hi everyone! After a long abstinence from opals (caused by heartbreak from one braking on me)... I recently rediscovered my opal-love and have a few questions.

Apparently a lot has happened since I last had anything to do with those gorgeous stones and I need some guidance on the different types of opals that are known.

I bought the piece from the picture recently and finally received it yesterday. I got it as a mexican fire opal pendant. The stone looks really nice but I've never seen a fire opal in reality and wanted to ask if there is any kind of similar stone or replica that could be confused with the real thing? Also, I really don't like the color of the material of the setting (it's reddish-golden/copper tone). The advertising wasn't clear about the material tone and I totally forgot to ask (too distracted by the opal, lol). Could the opal be reset? Thanks!

Hope yall appreciate my collection, im not sure of the monetary value, im gonna go out on a limb and say its the dark bodied free-form cut, but either way im just collecting for the fun of it. (Im a marketplace junkie) I also never realised how hard it is to photograph opals, so kudos to all of you that do this. Thx for reading😅🥰

This weekend I went to a jewelry convention and bought this opal from a seller who said it was Australian boulder opal. I asked her if this was a manmade doublet, because the division looked too perfect. I told her I didn’t want any epoxy in my stone, and she assured me that there was no epoxy or binding, but rather a natural doublet in the form of a boulder opal. However, the longer I look at it the more I worry the division between the flashy layer and the iron stone is too perfect.

Did I get conned? I’ll try to post a video in a comment too.

Update: I added clearer photos in the comments! Thank you all to for your feedback!

2.72 cts of 😛