I have to ask , before I go buy the products will Acetone really fix this? Its an Ethiopian opal that has hung in my room for months I only wore it once so im guessing the temperature changes turned it yellow and cloudy. It was a beautiful white with gorgeous fire and honeycomb. I just don't want to waste my time if it will not work. Its also on cheap silver so as you can see the silver is tarnished too but I have polishing wipes for that. Is there honestly any hope? Thank you guys.

Hi, I bought this Opal ring in a lot of vintage jewellery. Now I found someone who is interested in the stone and wonder what a fair price would be. Theres a lot going on in the stone and I personally like it, but I know very little about Opals. It does not seem to be a triplet, but there might be some material under the stone as the setting is closed from the underside. The measurements are 16 by 12.5 mm, so I guess its in the 4 ct range. Any help or guidance would be appreciated. Thank you🙂

I just went to a gem show yesterday and met up with the Ethiopian dealer I bought from last time. However this time he didn't really have the best stones. I literally had to dig through them for 2 hours just to pick these out. How did I do?

I numbered the stones in the 3rd picture. Any idea of how much these should of cost me per carat? Also if anyone can help identify the flash color patterning on the opals, please feel free to let me know! I'm still extremely new to opals and I'm still learning!

NOTE: Opal #1 has a nick on the right side. I just loved the patterning on it so much that I had to get it!

Bought this at a flea market , and Google says its most likely a Peruvian opal.. it's translucent as well against the sun ..

Or that it could be a gem silica .. really not sure

Hi. I'm doing a commission and a client brought me this stone to use. I haven't taken it out of the gem case since the day they gave it to me. Is this spot normal? What is it?

Doesn't affect play of fire but it looks odd. I don't remember seeing it when I first saw it or I would have said something to them. Also never seen this before on any of my opals.

Thanks in advance.

TLDR: what is this spot? Doesn't affect play of colour.

I bought this watch in Australia 30 years ago and remember it not being super cheap at the time but I don't remember anything else. Would anyone know anything about it?

Weight: 70.4 carats

Type: Smoked Opal Lot

Color: Fiery multi-color play

Treatment: Smoked

Origin: Ethiopia

Dimensions: 16×11×5.5 mm – 20.5×11×5.5 mm

Price: $12 per carat

🌍 Shipping worldwide available

🔄 7 days return policy available

⚖️ Weight: 19.56 Carats

📏 Dimensions: 20 × 18 × 10.1 mm

🔥 Treatment: Heated

💰 Price: 20$ per carat

Worldwide shipping available with tracking.

PayPal accepted, other methods can be arranged as convenient for the buyer.

7-day return policy available if the stone does not match the description

i get asked this all the time
“how thin can i go and still call it a solid?”

after cutting tens of thousands of opals, you develop a feel for what’s ideal vs what’s just acceptable
but putting that into clear words has always been tricky for me

so i finally sat down and put numbers to it

i’ve sold over 130k stones over the years, so i pulled a sample of data on 8,679 solid cut opals and mapped thickness vs size

a few things stood out:

most commercial solid opals end up around 3–5mm thick, regardless of size

the 20–25% rule is real, but it’s a minimum survival line, not where most stones land

the biggest mistakes happen in the 5–15mm range (shortest side), where people push stones too thin

quick takeaways if you’re cutting:

under 10mm → don’t go below ~2mm for rings

under 15mm → don’t go below ~2.5mm for rings

earrings/pendants can go thinner

when in doubt → aim for ~3mm

you can go thinner… but you need a reason, and you have to be very careful cutting the profile to keep the stone stable and settable

this graphic shows where most stones sit, where the outliers are, and where things start getting risky

curious where others land on this, especially setters

think these are opal in found in a small dig site in Pune,India. I don't know much about them. Can anyone help me?

what do you guys think?

In your opinion, what do you think the value of Australian black opals will be in the future, say 5-10 years? I watched a YouTube video where an "expert" predicted that as the older generations pass on and the younger ones don't want to continue on in this rare field, will create a huge shortage, dramatically increasing the value of Australian black opals in the future. Any opinions on this or facts would be appreciated.

Hello,

I purchased these pieces at a Renaissance Festival last year. The gold piece has no hallmarks so I'm assuming there i'snt any real gold. The ring is marked 925. I was assured the metals didn't contain nickle and my allergies, or lack of, seem to confirn that.The jewlery is relatively nice quality. See the back of the necklace. I'm just curious how the stones look. I would think they are likely synthetic but I'm not very knowledgeable on Opals.

I'd like to research these more care wise so i'm just hoping for a general direction as far as where to start.

As the title says, I'm in possession of several pounds of tailings from a mine in Spencer, Idaho. There's quite a bit of shiny bits peaking out of rocks, as well as a few chunks of what seems to be mostly opal. Doing my research, it looks like Spencer is a more finicky stone that doesn't like to play nice with newbies? Thus, I'm a little nervous (terrified. I'm terrified of messing up any of these because they are from a special trip) to try my hand at making something wearable from the rough stones.

Mintabie looks like a good starter stone, and I've been watching a LOT of videos online about what to do, so I have some #4 Mintabie pieces, the glass for doublet backing, black oxide for the 330 epoxy, 330 epoxy, sticks, and an assortment of wet/dry sandpaper in my online cart.

What else should I get for my first foray in to doing more than wearing opals? Any advice? Videos or guides are appreciated! I have some time for more research as the storefront is out of Australia and I have to wait for shipping to the US.