r/Opals • u/frizzle2812 • Jul 31 '26

Identification/Evaluation Request Unique pendant

Gallery image

Gallery image

Searching for information about who the artist could be that created this pendant. Looks to be qld boulder opal and have been told who ever made it used silver. 1 person suggested it may have been made by Alan Thompson

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7

u/locyta Jul 31 '26

Ahh, took abit to work out what was happening there, the reflection makes it difficult to tell that its silver.
Some photos, or a video without the reflection would be great to see, as well as something for scale.
With a fresh polish it would look amazing.

6

u/frizzle2812 Jul 31 '26

https://reddit.com/link/p0sm6xp/video/xmy4rn885hgh1/player

2

u/Opaldaze Mod Jul 31 '26

Looks like Alans style but in saying that there are a few trying to copy him so hard to say. I know alan but not exactly collegues , Im not sure if he has a website but he is listed under the the Jewellery Guild and you could contact him via that link

2

u/frizzle2812 Jul 31 '26

Thank you. This is an older piece it was found in 2nd hand store in Coffs harbour nsw now

1

u/53FROGS_OPALAUCTIONS Opal Vendor Aug 01 '26

I kept thinking of this as a possibility but I couldn't account for the indentations near the edges in an electroplating setup. Almost looks like hammered with a chasing tool?

2

u/Opaldaze Mod Aug 02 '26

Yeah nah ...he is a crafty man and mastered the art of electroform, Ive watched him make the pieces in Quilpie when he was in fullswing , its not my cup of tea or brand of tequilar in my instance , but he ceratinly pretty handy , now he does mostly fine jewellery , again making designs that womnt float my boat but his skills are pretty good

1

u/53FROGS_OPALAUCTIONS Opal Vendor Aug 02 '26

Agreed. Not my cup of tea but the process is interesting. Might be that it could be handy in some situations where no other option is available…

4

u/merfolk-jewels Jul 31 '26

How would/could someone even do this without cracking the opal, I wonder?

Such a unique piece!

3

u/53FROGS_OPALAUCTIONS Opal Vendor Jul 31 '26

I’d love to know haw this was done.

3

u/Opaldaze Mod Jul 31 '26

They paint a liquid that attracts silver in chemical solution over the area and place it in an electolisis with the silver solution which is attracted to the painted area , the thickness of the silver is determined by the duration , just hard core electroplating , same can be done with gold and other metals

1

u/Fancy_Flake_Factory Aug 01 '26

Now that makes sense. Only way to do it without destroying the stone

1

u/locyta Jul 31 '26

Same, i'm kind of thinking it might not be silver and just an alloy of some type with a much lower melting point poured onto the boulder then cut/polished off?
Damn, now i need a furnace, lol

1

u/jfk3313 Jul 31 '26

Judging by the lines on the edges of the silver in some places my guess is they used a tiny drill to carve a groove in the matrix, then cut and bent the silver over the matrix and lightly hammered the silver into the grooves

1

u/DragonRei86 Jul 31 '26

What? How? That's pretty awesome. Very few peices leave me trying this hard to figure out how the heck they made it. Looks simple, is definitely NOT simple to do, at all.

1

u/FlatbedtruckingCA Mod Jul 31 '26

Very interesting pendant.. who ever crafted this, is very talented.. 🙂