Mar
Ethiopian opal update
Posted by
ETHIOPIAN OPAL UPDATE (A soapbox opinion)
Should the Australian Opal industry be worried about the influx of Ethiopian Opal onto the world market?
I believe many in our industry are blissfully running their businesses along the same lines they have always been without any knowledge or interest in what is happening on the world stage. Their heads cemented firmly in the sand. Perhaps they should take notice because the “times may be changing.”
At the Tucson trade show in 2010 opal from the Welo Province in Ethiopia was being offered by several gemstone dealers. I mentioned it in an article in volume 51 of Metal Stone& Glass (My blog on Tucson 2010). Part of what I wrote was “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 lose its dominance in the light opal market.”
This year at Tucson the amount of Ethiopian Opal offered for sale increased dramatically. My feelings are that Ethiopia is possibly providing somewhere around 20 – 30% of the light opal market to the world and growing! (There are deposits of chocolate coloured opal in Ethiopia but the opal I am referring to is light based opal very similar to our light opal) The price was around 30% cheaper than comparable Aussie opal at the wholesale level. Often with new fields or new deposits this is the case until the opal is proven both as a product and to its’ reliable availability.
So the question has to be asked. How to we handle this and what changes need to be made to protect OUR market place? What exactly are the problems?
The amount of opal offered in itself is not alarming because at least opal IS reaching the world market. I believe this is the most important fact. The more opal on display across the world can only help the popularity of the stone as a gem. Hopefully the market will increase and more people will become interested. If more of the worlds jewellery stores begin to stock opal than that has to be good. With the production of light opal in Australia declining it may be a good overall thing that this new opal can fill the void
BUT there are some problems and there are changes that need to be made here in Australia particularly with the marketing of OUR product.
As yet no one is really sure of the long term stability of the opal. Most dealers of Ethiopian opal I talked to say their opal is stable and are not having any trouble. However, when I asked if they knew of anyone treating cracky opal with opticon or one of the glues available with a refractive index similar to opal the general response was “I don’t have that problem with my opal but I have heard some people may do it”.
One concern I had was the affect Ethiopian opal might have on the doublet and triplet market. I asked some of the Chinese opal cutters if they had tried the new material. Their overall response was that it was not suitable for triplets and the doublets were very ‘watery’ without the ‘kick ‘ Aussie opal has.
People in our industry must stop using the line “Australia produces 95% of the world’s opal” This is simply no longer true. We all need to say something along these lines “Australia produces the bulk of the world’s opal. Opal is found in many countries but we believe ours is the best” We should NOT put this new opal down as that is counterproductive to the promotion of opal as a gemstone and can only come across to a customer as ‘sour grapes’!
However we can shift the focus back to our product in several ways. We must all guarantee our opal. Firstly we must tell our customers that our opal is not treated in any way what so ever and that we guarantee it against crazing. At my shop ‘Mineshaft’ most of the opal we sell is from our own mines so we let the customer know that this opal has been out of the ground for many years and is completely stable. Not only that but it is backed by knowledge from the mine to the finished piece of jewellery and comes with a story. It all comes back to knowing our product and educating customers on the positives rather than mentioning anything to the detriment of the industry as a whole.
So I am saying to the industry “sell our Aussie opal as the premier opal of the world along with all the romance and history that all our opal fields exude. Educate the consumer so that when they leave the store they are in love with opal and know more about OUR opal and OUR opal fields”.
Ethiopian Opal Beads
Close up Ethiopian Opal beads
- Bookmark :
- Digg
- del.icio.us
- Stumbleupon
- Redit it
The hits we are getting for Ethiopian opal jewellery are growing everyday… but you are right, there are some problems with the knowledge surrounding Ethiopian opals – perhaps they won’t last the test of time. From our experience the Welo province opal is pretty good but we have heard some terrible things regarding chocolate opal, with buyers spending a fortune to end up with cracked useless rocks (basically). My personal favourite field will always be Mintubi/Mintabie.
wonderfull coment of mr .peter.
shows the confidence he have in his country opals/australia/ and reporting truthfull news to the world and tranquilising his fellow miners and honest working australian opal industry members in particular and awekening greedy opal merchants in general .
cool mr peter i do really apreciate your tesis and would like to hear and read more from you good day.
pierino
As the Ethiopian Opal is introduced to the market very recently, as compared to Austs 100 years experiance, every one should easily understand the said opal is the best in quality and highly demanded. Therefore, we should work together in order to keep up your market share.
Thankyou for yor comments.
I have been playing around with Ethiopian opal for a couple of years now. I am learning about its properties and I am very interested in the long term stability of this material. There are several fields here in Australia where the opal only starts to craze up to five years and longer after it is mined.
More important for the growth of ethiopian opal is the absorbtion issues. Below is a section of an article I have written.
“This year, for me, the interesting thing was the ongoing saga of Ethiopian opal. I believe Ethiopia would be producing well over 60% of the worlds light base opal! It could be as high as 80% and still growing. It is a beautiful stone but there some reservations. Previously my main concern was stability. So far the Welo opal seems to be holding up but it is still early days. My concerns are now taking a different path. This is the problem of absorption. Most of the opal is hydrophane (Absorbs moisture). Some of it will actually stick to your tongue. Most people are now aware that the opal loses its colour when immersed in water although it does come back hours, days or even weeks later.
Terry Coldham and I purchased some rough to play around with. Terry, despite my protests on wastage, decided to leave some opal rough overnight in a glass of red wine. Next morning we had what can best be described as “rhodochrosite opal.” Despite trying to remove the dark pink colour through basic washing it was impossible. The next night we mixed some black boot polish with some of my wife’s face cream and this turned the opal into ‘black opal’.
So my concern is this. What will be the long term affect of body creams etc on the colouring and nature of the opal? Will the appearance be altered and will there be residual staining? Should customers be made aware of this potential problem? There definitely needs to be more work done here.”
I am not rubbishing ethiopian opal. I am just interested in it fitting in to the right place in the market and finding the right price structure. Because of the problems mentioned, as well as the fact that it looses it’s colour when placed in water, and the fact that it is a lot softer then Australian opal it needs to fit in to the market place at a much cheaper price. Its limitations need to be placed in front of the customers.
Even so we are interested in setting up a section to cut some of the material on an ongoing basis.
all the best,
Peter
I have been cutting Ethiopian opal for 3 years now ,and I live in Tucson Az . I can say you roll the dice when buying rough opal . I have some pieces to which i am holding on to , to monitor . I feel the high carat stable pieces today are being given away . The should be priced the same or even higher than Australian opal . I found a crystal piece on line 44cts between 2-3 on 5 selling for 65,000.00 . My 39.16 which can be seen on ytube under opal aaaa blows it away . When i sell I will not be giving it away
Thank you for your comments Dominic.
Firstly I will again say I really like Ethiopian opal. It is a very pretty stone and the gemstone world needs it..
However there are several reasons why it should sell well below the cost of equivalent Australian Opal.
1/ It is so much softer so requires much greater care
2/ Looses it’s colour in water (The colour does come back) .One of the reasons customers buy a solid opal is so they can wear it all the time (shower and all) and wash their hands etc. Not everyone takes their jewellery off each time they wash.
3/ The as yet unknown problems resulting from absorption. As most Ethiopian opal is Hydrophane (absorbs moisture) it can also absorb other things. E.g. leave a piece of rough in a glass of wine or any other coloured liquid and it will take on the colour. There may be a long term residual staining problem with absorption of body creams, perfume etc. I feel this may be a significant long term problem with Ethiopian opal and work need to be done.
4/ The stability over the years is still an unknown factor.
There is a place for this wonderful Ethiopian opal in the market place. Because of the above limiting factors and the ready availability the price, I believe, will settle much lower than Australian opal.
Most Australian opal dealers (As we do) guarantee their opal against crazing so I am assuming, Dominic, that you will be guaranteeing your Ethiopian opal the same way when you sell it and that you can give justifiable reasons for your high pricing. Rarity, hardness, stability etc all play a part.
Opal from my mine has been out of the ground for over thirty years and we guarantee it.
I do sell Ethiopian opal and the price is approximately half to a third of the cost of equivalently coloured Australian opal but comes with no guarantee and all the information given. (Total disclosure is a must to provide confidence in the gemstone industry).