OpalSmith.com
Title
opals,opals,opals-The Opalsmith-wholesale pricing
Description
The foregoing is some information about opal and the trade that I have gleaned over the years. I do not claim to be an "expert" ( an "ex" is a has-been and a "spurt" is a drip under pressure). But 20 years working with opal and learning from those whov'e come before me has prompted me to share this at the request of my customers and friends. The following facts are regarding Australian opal, and are not mutually exclusive. There will always be exceptions to the rules with opal.
As each opal dig produces a different pattern and varying quality of gem, it would be safe to say that there are no "experts" in this business,only experienced dealers and cutters and even those of us who may claim the experience are subject to the ever changing rules of supply and demand, coupled with the suprise of meeting with a completely new and different material from day to day. However.....there are some basic constants that have evolved over the years that allow us to get a benchmark. This comes in 2 parts and follows the rule that rarity drives value. First is base color or the background color of the material (not the fire). Second is the fire( pattern,color mix and brightness). The hard part is that these 2 attributes will often cross over each other as I will explain.
If fire color mix and brightness are assumed to be equal across the board in varying base colors, then black is first in value,crystal (water clear base) is a close second, grey or semi-black next, then jelly(translucent like jello) and white base or "light opal" last. Boulder falls into the dark opal or semi-black range because of the darker background.
