MILLION DOLLAR OPALS

In the past few months I have been approached by two separate opal miners for help in selling two unique but totally different opals. As yet both are unsold and still on the market.

The first started with a customer telling me about a friend who was an opal miner years ago who had a very nice opal for sale. He hadn’t mined for many years so had lost contact with the industry. I gave the customer my number saying I would try to help the retired miner with some up to date contacts if he cared to ring.

I had a phone call from the miner and as with most miners I took what he said with a grain of salt. Most miners when talking about their ‘special stones’ tend to exaggerate. Over the phone he described an opal that just could not exist. I also thought the weight was probably exaggerated as he was guessing.  He hadn’t been to Canberra for over 30 years so he said he would bring it for me to have a look.

A few days later in walked this typical opal miner with a leather string pendant (Tanned kangaroo scrotum pouch). After introductions he took the pendant off his neck and mentioned it contained the crown jewels.

When he emptied the opal out my initial reaction was WOW. The opal was the most exquisite opal I have ever seen. The size was exactly the same as my palm and it was about 3 cm thick. It was a black opal nobby from Lightning Ridge polished except for the back. Predominantly green/blue it had a remarkable pattern and was brighter then most gem grade triplets. This was the best of several stones he found just before retiring. It was so wonderfully beautiful he did not sell it. Now he didn’t want to burden his family with the problem of dividing it after he died.  Consequently he was looking for a buyer. I asked him what he was thinking it was worth. His reply was he was looking for offers of over a million dollars. My opinion is it is worth every bit of that and is amongst the most beautiful things that have ever come out of the ground. I cannot put a picture of it here, but for anyone with money to burn this stone is a bargain.

The second opal came about by a financial guy contacting me on behalf of a client wishing to sell “a spectacular 73 kilo opal”.

After a couple of e mails it turns out that this opal is a large specimen of opalised shells from Coober Pedy. Over the years I have seen several large groups of magnificent opalised shells. In particular, a few specimens from a small field a little out of Coober Pedy called ‘Shell Patch were memorable. Some of these groups would have weighed at least as much as this latest offer.  I was sent some pictures and accompanying them was a valuation from an opal business valuing the group at 5.1 million dollars. I think they were dreaming and picking numbers at random from a make believe hat but then you only need one fool with more money then sense.

Not to detract from this interesting group of opalised ancient history. It is an unusual specimen and it does have a lot of beautiful shells in it.

It is simply not worth anything close to the valuation. From our correspondence it is obvious the owner knows this valuation is a little fanciful so they would be interested in a realistic offer.

We have just received our latest shipment of mammoth ivory carvings. This is the best shipment we have ever had. To introduce these to our readers we are offering  four of the best to our blog readers at half the shop price, plus postage

Mammoth Ivory has been used by humans as a carving median and adornment since our time on earth began. This material has a story involving humans from a time in history when “Tribal” life was commonplace.

Because of this history it is many peoples belief that mammoth material is indeed more interesting than any other sculpture material in the world.

It is better than elephant ivory and does not involve any killing. Mammoth ivory that is of a quality good enough to carve is a scarce resource. Master carvers that have the ability to produce fine works of art from the mammoth ivory are also hard to find. We believe we have the best carvers and the largest range of mammoth ivory carvings in Australia.

We also believe that mammoth ivory carvings are a true collectible art form and can only increase in value. Should any reader want to see our range please e mail us through the contact form and we will send out photos of our current range and prices. For those that collect a theme e.g. elephants, owls, ganesh, send us a request and we will let you know what we have. If you have a special request let us know and we will try to make it in the future.

The first item that we have on special is a carving of a fairy. This exquisite piece measures a large 15cm x 7cm. It shows wonderful typical mammoth cross hatching and the piece of mammoth ivory it is carved in  is flawless. The shop price is A$1500 and the introductory blog price is A$750 plus postage.

The second item is a dragon. This piece is three dimentional and has incredible detail. It measures 110cm x 4cm x 1.5cm. Again the mammoth ivory is flawless. The shop price is A$400 so the introductory  blog price of A$200 plus postage is an absolute bargain (try and find one on the internet better)

The third item is an intricate design of sea horses and coral. This piece measures 15cm x 6 cm. The shop price is A$150. The introductory blog price is only A$75. For such a large sculpture that is great value.

Finally we offer a Buddha carving. This piece is again beautifully carved and measures  7cm x 4cm x 2cm. The shop price is A$200 with the introductory blog price at A$100 plus postage.

These special pieces will remain at this price until sold or when an updated product blog is posted. The prices are genuine and they are bargains to entice you to see our full range. You can’t buy better.

Tucson Show 2010

The Tucson gem and mineral show is a pilgrimage that anyone interested in gems, minerals, fossils or jewellery should make at least once.

I have been more then 25 times and spent over a year of my life at the show. In that time it has grown from being held in 3 motels to over 40 locations scattered across Tucson.

It is my thermometer for aging or a “micro life” within my normal life. I see so many world wide friends there and catch up on their lives and experiences. We exchange information, contacts, ideas, trends and future directions. As such, the Tucson show is more than just the world’s biggest gem show. It is a beautiful tapestry of the complete gemstone industry and those wonderful people who make up its threads.

An amazing thing about the Tucson show is that there is always the “wow” factor. It does not matter how often you go; there is something on display that will knock your eyes out.

Perhaps a downside is the 13 hour cramped plane flight to L.A. Perhaps it is the 4 hour wait for a connecting flight to Tucson. Or more likely it is the anticipation of what is to come that makes the waiting more protracted.

For many years I have traveled with Terry Coldham (Gemstone expert and connoisseur. Terry owns wholesale businesses, Sapphex  and Affiliated Importer’s). Every year he say’s he does not need to go but the magnetic uniqueness of the event somehow draws him back.

This year we stayed at the Day’s Inn right in the hub of the show. This was one of the original motel selling sites and the first motel I ever stayed at. That first trip Terry and I accompanied famous mineral collector Albert Chapman. Albert’s lessons in aesthetics of a specimen have been invaluable to me over the years and I have transported his concepts to all other aspects of our industry from selecting gemstone sculptures to opal cutting.

2009 was a slow year for many Tucson dealers. The worldwide economic downturn had a definite impact and for many dealers sales were down dramatically. We had noticed the number of buyers that normally increases year after year were significantly fewer. 2010 was going to be very interesting, especially for Tucson’s future shows.

2010 saw no noticeable drop in the number of sellers. The number of buyers appeared to be around the same as 2009, perhaps a little higher. Talking to a mixture of sellers revealed interesting results. Although sales were not like earlier years they were on average better then 2010. Some of the Australian opal dealers were doing much better and were happy with their sales. Some sellers were having the best selling year they had ever had, so the potential for good sales was still there. Other sellers were disappointed but overall Tucson was alive and kicking and will continue to evolve and show the pulse, trends and future directions of the gemstone industry.

Buying was excellent. If you knew your prices there were plenty of good buys, plenty of variety and our dollar being strong gave great value. I had less then $20 in my wallet when I reached Los Angeles airport and my credit cards had a distinct red colour.

It is always interesting to see new stones from new deposits and talk to those people directly involved with them. To me an opal deposit in the Welo Province in Ethiopia was particularly interesting. Discovered on the side of a very steep canyon early in 2008 it is producing some wonderfully bright light base opal. Unlike other opal deposits in Ethiopia this opal is apparently quite stable. Of course only time will tell if this is true.  I looked closely at perhaps 50 stones all priced over $2000. They reminded me of the best opal from Lambina in South Australia or some of the early crystal/jelly opal of Andamooka. The colours were vibrant with full colour throughout. The amazing aspect of this deposit is the amount of good opal that has come from such a small area. I was shown pictures of the current extent of the workings and the difficulty in reaching and mining the deposit. And here lies an interesting scenario.

Interesting fossils

At the possible wrath of some Aussie opal lovers I dare to make this statement.  If this field is as extensive as it may well be, perhaps in the future, Australia could loose it’s dominance in the light opal market. At the moment it is early days but those involved believe the current opal production is only “scratching the surface” and they believe the future is incredibly bright. However, Ethiopian politics may well hinder the development of the industry. We will all have to wait and see.

We started with breakfast at our favorite Tucson breakfast diner “The Old Times Kafe”. (This wonderful establishment never changes. It has the same owners, staff and décor as it did when we first went there years ago – even down to the cement goose with broken beak at the entrance! We are greeted each year and they know exactly what our order will be and that we like our coffee  AFTER the meal.

Our days were filled with business and the nights were spent dining out, eating too much and catching up with friends. We dined with a broad spectrum of the industry. A Chinese factory owner, a Brazilian gemstone cutter, a world leading gemstone expert and author, a leading bulk rough dealer being typical dining partners. This year we also had dinner with Martin Soklich and his mother Maureen from Soklich Trading Co of Perth (Who I had not seen since I was 16) The conversation each night was diverse, interesting, educational and stimulating.

A speech by Bruce Bridges at the annual International Colored Gemstone Association Tucson get together was extremely moving (The night was a dedicated tribute to Campbell Bridges). Campbell Bridges is attributed with the discovery of Tsavorite. On August 11 in Kenya, Bruce, his father and four others were viciously attacked by a mob and Campbell Bridges was murdered. Bruce made the point that they knew who committed the murder but authorities were doing little to apprehend the killer. Just days after this tribute Daniel Mnene was apprehended by a member of the Bridges’ private security force and police finally arrested and charged him with the murder. The inside story of this whole saga is quite incredible.

The actual Tucson Mineral Show at the convention centre high lighted gemstone crystals and unusual gemstones cut from them. There were so many WOW pieces I could not mention them all. Although pictures just don’t seem to do justice some are included here.

I was particularly impressed with the five tone marble sculpture “American Woman” by Francisco Sotomayor. This life-size sculpture of a woman reclining on a 10 foot long concert grande piano is a masterpiece. Talking to the sculptor was fascinating and gave me a greater insight into the carving problems and idiosyncrasies of marble as a carving median. (It started with a twenty ton block and took 1,600 hours over a 16 month period to complete).    The website http://www.franciscosfineart.com/ is well worth a look that shows the sculpture evolve from the block of marble to completion. There is also an interesting segment on the Yule marble mine.

Giant amethyst geodes as big as a car, complete fossil dinosaurs, emeralds the size of match boxes and Tanzanites as big as eggs can all be seen at Tucson. Often it is something less spectacular but ultimately more unusual that attracts me these days. I particularly liked a Benitoite crystal group forming in a letter C.

A box made from Tigeriron and a blue topaz crystal also found the spot.

Tucson is a unique experience. It goes beyond the beautiful gemstones, fossils and minerals displayed. It is the total experience that makes the event special.