OPAL

Opal is not a main stocking item for us since so many dealers carry it, but when our miners sent over a sample of the unusual Opal below, we jumped to secure a parcel.  This material is highly chatoyant and could produce some wonderful large cab pendent or ring stones.

We are also working on getting some white-base African Opal that gives the Australian material a run for the money, and is substantially cheaper.  Our collectors have had mixed results in obtaining the high quality rough that we are after, so we are holding off on this at the moment.

This is a very interesting and uncommon material - Cat's Eye Opal !

The material is more for cabbing, but we do have some pieces that are clear enough for faceting, yet still show strong chatoyancy.
Most pieces in A and B grades are fairly translucent. The colors range from amber, yellow, toffee, mocha/brown, silver and should make some spectacular cabs.  There are 3 grades available:
A: Strong "shimmer" and/or facet possibilities -  $4/gm
B: More opaque, still with a good shimmer  - $3/gm
C: Opaque, less apparent shimmer  (free chunk while supplies last with >purchase< of A or B material)