My old friend Boulder Opal
28th August 2022 - Customer location: Cairns
The finished ring, 18ct white gold and shoulder diamonds.
This month I finished this Queensland Boulder opal ring for a young couple in Cairns. I worked in opal for over 20 years but since ceasing wholesale work I rarely work with it. That said this is the second opal ring I have made of late. When I was first contacted I was unsure of what type of opal it was for a number of reasons.
More and more I am trying to do as much as I can initially with Cairns customers via email/text messages/phone prior to meetings. The aim is to avoid wasting peoples time with coming to meet me only to discover that what they want to do I cannot achieve for them. It is the same process I use for all my out of Cairns customers.
The first thing with this ring was to determine what type of opal it was. From the photos he sent me I was unsure if this was a solid natural opal. My guess from the photos was that it was not but rather a doublet or triplet.
However the ring was created in 18ct gold which would indicate it was a more valuable solid opal. With the back and sides of the opal closed in with the ring setting I could not identify the opal type.
This was one of those cases when I needed to meet with the customer before we could even look at quoting on this piece. The customer would also have to agree for me to unset the opal prior to quoting and to do that without any risk of damaging the opal I would need to damage the ring. That damage to the ring would mean the opal would not easily go back in if they decided not to proceed.
Side view of the unset opal.
With the approval given to unset the opal my first thoughts when I saw the side was that it was a solid Queensland Boulder pipe opal. This was later confirmed by the opal cutter who re-polished the top of the gem.
Clear seam of crystal running through the ironstone
Boulder opal occurs naturally with a crystal layer on top of an ironstone base. In the case of this gem there was a section of the opal where the ironstone was absent. My customers liked this aspect of the gem and wanted to leave the back of the ring open to be able to view it readily.
The finished ring with the back left open.
And so the new ring has the back of the opal clearly visible. This is an engagement ring that will be worn periodically for special events. As with the last opal engagement ring I made I advised the customers that wearing this gem every day would more than likely lead to damaging the opal.
With some white opal it is quite easy to find a similar replacement gem, not exact but very close. With this Boulder Pipe Opal once it is gone there will be no replacing it. They have been warned.