Opal Mining CH & Fossicking 5Jackhammer: Fig.68 (below right) A vibrating Chisel-like instrument, driven either by electricity or an air compressor, that replaces the old hand pick,

Terms Associated with Opal Mining and Fossicking

Drills: Fig. 64 (right) -a 9” Prospecting Auger- picture: Dept of Mineral Resources, NSW.

In past years, the decision as to where to start digging an opal shaft, was left largely up to chance.

Many theories have been proposed as to the best spot, from walking around with a divining stick, to tossing a coin. From checking the type of trees growing in an area, to the shapes of hills. A nine-inch prospecting drill gives the miner some idea of what is underneath. If there is evidence of precious opal or potch, or if the sandstone has the right color, further investigation is considered worthwhile. That is when the large one meter drill is brought in, which replaces the need for the miner to actually dig the shaft by hand as it was done in the past

Ordinary Blokes Guide to Opal | Page 38

Opal Mining & Fossicking

CH5

Figure 64

Mullock: The opal dirt that is removed from the mine and left in heaps at the top of the whole. (Hence the term -‘Mullock heaps’) – Fig. 65

Rickshaw: A two wheeled, wheelbarrow A hand driven trolley, used to cart the opal dirt from the face of the tunnel back to the shaft. The dirt is unloaded into buckets, which are drawn to the surface using either a windlass or a hoist.

Windlass: The instrument used in times past (and sometimes today) to wind the mullock out of the shaft.- Fig.66: Dept of Mineral Resources, NSW

Hoist: – Fig. 67: An automatic system that has all but replaced the Windlass for removing opal dirt from the shaft. (Picture: Dept of Mineral Resources, NSW-) This system enables a miner to remove the opal dirt without an assistant winding a windlass at the top of the hole. He can operate by himself.


Figure 65

Figure 66

Jackhammer: Fig.68 (below right) A vibrating Chisel-like instrument,driven either by electricity or an air compressor, that replaces the oldhand pick, used to loosen and dig out opal dirt, and hopefully opal rough.

Blower: Fig. 69 (below) picture dept Mineral Resources NSW A giant “vacuum cleaner” that replaces the need for a rickshaw and hoist. Large amounts of opal dirt can be sucked from the work face directly up the opal shaft onto waiting trucks. Using this method, large amount of dirt can be processed in a short time.


Figure 67 Figure 68

Figure 69

Spider: A term used to describe the piece of wire stuck into the wall of the mine used to hold a candle underground. (Rarely used today. Generator driven lights have taken over.)

Toe Dirt / Pay Dirt: The opal dirt that is closer to the ‘toe’ or foot of the miner. It is the dirt that is away from the opal level and is generally less likely to contain opal. Usually (but not always) the opal is found near the “head” of the miner. (In contrast to the “toe”) He works under the level, and this is called ‘pay dirt’ for obvious reasons. (See “working the level” at the end of this chapter – Fig.83)

Slide / Blow: The area underground where the opal level slips or slidesor changes direction. It is generally believed that opal occurs morefrequently when these changes take place. - Figure 71.

Agitator: (‘agi’) Concrete agitators that have been adapted to wash the clay away from opal. The opal dirt that is felt more likely to contain opal is transported in trucks to the ‘agi’ site, on a dam. The dirt is unloaded into the agitator and water added. After considerable time, what is left over is called the tail-out.

Fig. 70 Tail-out: This contains all the hard bits and pieces that were in the opal dirt or clay. Hopefully, opal potch and precious opal. This is usually poured out onto a sorting table where the miner carefully sorts through to locate precious opal. The pan contains the final sorting which will (hopefully) produce some nice gems. Sometimes the color is not obvious from the


Figure 70

outside, and, when snipped in two have revealed priceless gems.

Snips: A hand held tool that is used to check rough opal in the tail-out. By snipping the edge carefully, it can be established whether or not there is color in the stone without actually using the diamond blade. This procedure is risky. So, miners are careful to snip just a small amount at a time in case they ruin a stone. Impatience has caused many valuable gems to be ruined.

Dry Puddler: Used instead of an agitator to extract opal. In this case the goods are shaken and sieved to find the rough opal. NOTE: The above processes are mainly used at Lightning Ridge where knobby opal is mined. The Nobbies tend to be spread out more sparsely in the opal dirt, hence requiring a large amount of the dirt to be washed. In the case of seam opal, the miner has a better chance of locating the seams underground and plucking them out of the wall of the mine, thus eliminating the need to wash all the dirt. This makes seam opal mining very appealing, particularly during a drought when water is scarce or the agitator site is a long way from the mine.

Opal Level: (Fig. 71) The level under the ground where opal is more likely to be found. Usually associated with clay and sandstone. These are probably the sludge leftovers from giant floods that took place thousands of years ago. There is much speculat ion by evolut ionists and creationists as to the age of events. Well-known publisher, Len Cram,believes he has the evidence in his back shed at Lightning Ridge to

indicate that opal is not as old as many believe.


Figure 71

“Schematic” just means “Diagram” or Drawing of the geology (the Science of the origin, history and structure of the earth’s crust. From the book “Opal in South Australia” – dept of Mines and Energy. - Fig. 72

“The Ridge” in a good season. This photo from our property on the 10mile field has a section of good quality black soil that produces some ofthe best wheat in the district. - Fig. 73 ‘Opal Ridge’


Figure 72

Figure 73


Figure 74 - Endless variety of Sunsets in the outback

Figure 75 - Walgett, near Lightning Ridge in the 1890’s

Figure 76 - Old Fred’s” Camp- Lightning Ridge

Figure 78, 79 - (above) remains of old opal miner’s camps, Lightning

Ridge.Figure 77 - The Hunter kids at the mine-

Lightning Ridge.


Figure 80Father & Son, Boulder Opal

Miners, Ralph (right) & Michael.

These Miners live on the Gold Coast and regularly travel over

1500 kms to their mines in Western Queensland.

Most of the mines are small family operations. It takes determination

and persistence to accept the challenge of the distance and the

heat.

Figure 81“Jumbo and Maggie”

Opal Miners from Yowah, near Cunnamulla, Western Queensland.



Figure 82A more detailed map of the Australian Opal fields,

showing areas of major opal occurrence.

Figure 83working the opal level (“pay dirt”)

If you have the money, and want to get started quickly, just go to a Lapidary store after you read this CD, and buy the gear. There are water-cooled diamond grinding machines that have a combination of diamond wheels with different grits. These machines are good but expensive. You can save yourself a lot of money by sticking with the older type Carborundum machines that I still use. (See “Opal Cutting”)

”It’s best to purchase at least the Carborundum grinding machine and diamond slicing

machine, unless you are experienced in the use of bearings, pulleys and shafts.”

If you want to attempt to make this yourself, you would need to take a look at one, either at your local lapidary club or at a shop, and you should be able to duplicate it with little difficulty. The only thing to remember with this is the following in regard to speed of operation.

Many lapidaries will tell you to run the diamond blade slowly with opal. This is a big mistake. Opal is not such a hard material like agate for example. Opal slicing is best done either in water or with water passing over it at a speed that will be achieved from an ordinary 1440 RPM, ¼ H.P. motor with a 6” pulley on the motor and a 1 & ½ pulley on the shaft. If you don’t force the stone and you have plenty of water passing over it, you will not cause any damage. In fact your diamond blades will last


Opal Cutting Machinery

CH6

longer because they will not buckle as easy. (See an example of this machine in the chapter on “Opal Cutting”)

I personally prefer diamond blades that have the water passing over them and then down into the drain. First, the water is always clean and cool, second, particularly if you are cutting boulder opal, it does not become muddy and warm, and third, you won’t run the risk of getting the bottom part of your diamond blade rusted up and ruined, because you forgot to drain the water.

My grinder runs on 4” to 4” pulleys with a 1/3 HP motor. (1/4 is OK if you are not doing a lot of heavy grinding work.)

“If you are short of money, have plenty of time, and you like fiddling about inventing things,

why not have a go at making your own sanding machine.”

The following information is a bit difficult to explain, but it should give you a few clues as to what to do and you can experiment and improve on it as you see fit.

You can mount an ordinary old washing machine motor on a bench top with a couple of aluminum or steel straps. Lay some old rubber or foam down first. (Try to get a motor with a platform on it if you want to avoid the straps.)


Often, old washing machine motors have a pulley already mounted on the shaft. Rather than buy an expensive work head, you can turn the pulley into a workhead without much difficulty. If your motor already has a pulley on it, then screw a piece of round plywood on to it, making sure that the screws are countersunk so that the surface is smooth.

Contact cement some flat rubber onto the wood. Turn the motor on and hold some very course sandpaper on a lump of wood, against the rubber. As the workhead spins, you can make the rubber nice and smooth. Work it just like a lathe. Keep doing this until all the rough uneven spots are out, and the surface is perfectly flat and the edge, round, with no rough spots. (Be careful using sharp instruments such as knives while doing this. It is easy for the blade to get caught on the wheel and jump back into you. It nearly happened to me!)

By the time you have finished this process, you will have a perfectly even work head with few vibrations. Coat it with contact cement (from a hardware store) and allow to dry. (Better to give it a couple of coats.) Don’t attempt to put sandpaper on it while it is still tacky or you will end up with a mess. When it has dried, you will be able to put on and pull off your various grades of sandpaper with ease.

Build a housing (or frame)around it out of wood and you have yourself an effective work head. Cut yourself a piece of split chrome leather, (Ask your local leather supplier) and stick this with contact cement onto the face (not the back) of a piece of circular sandpaper. This way you can use the leather lap on the same machine as your sanding discs. If you are a little smart, by using course sandpaper, you can even make do without a Carborundum grinder until you can afford one.


If you want to get really sophisticated, buy yourself an old windscreen wiper/washer set from the wreckers or from your local spare parts dealer. Mount the tank on the side of your work and install the small motor somewhere close by. If you like you can purchase a small on/off switch from Tandy (or other electronics shop), fashion it into an on/off foot pedal. This way you will have a water source that you can turn on and off with your foot as you work your stones, thus leaving both hands free to work. If you feel the stone is getting a little hot or the sandpaper needs a little cleaning, give it a shot of water.

A better system to this is to have a tank of water high up somewhere near your bench and gravity feed it through a water jet. (Just a small piece of copper pipe or the jet off the windscreen wiper.) You have to purchase some sort of miniature on/off tap and connect it to a foot pedal, using wire springs and string as an accelerator. This is a more permanent arrangement as the small wiper motors tend to wear out after a while.

If you use the above system, you can replace the epoxy on the dopsticks with concreter’s white glue. (We call it “Bondcrete” in Australia) This is a much quicker process, though it has to be left overnight to set. It’s superior to epoxy in that if it does overheat a little, if you stop in time, it will re-harden if you leave it for a few minutes. But once epoxy has overheated, you have to start over again.

The controlled spray of water (See fig 92 at the top of the sander) is such an effective way of cooling, cleaning, controlling dust and assisting in the sanding process. You will realize after a while, that if you polish under water (as with the diamond machines) all the time, it is difficult to see where the scratches are. Dry sanding to me is more pleasant and satisfying, but the water is there when you need it, to cool and to check. And, as a bonus, you keep the dust down to a bare minimum without the use of noisy and expensive vacuum attachments. Hang an old face towel


over your legs and wear a waterproof apron, or you will get very wet. You will need the towel to wipe the stone as well to check progress.

Fig. 84 Home made sanding machines made from old washing machine motors from the dump or second hand store. The RPM of the sanding head runs at the same speed as the motor, which would be too fast normally, but with the water attachment, the heat of the stone can be controlled, and the dopping medium kept from overheating.

The pulley (often already attached) can be used as a base for a small sanding wheel (lap) when some plywood and rubber backing have been attached to it. This machine is a home made version of Fig. 85 below.


Figure 85

Figure 84


Figure 86A more detailed map of the Australian Opal fields,

showing areas of major opal occurrence.

CH7

Opal Cutting & Processing

Associated Terms:

Opal Cutting: You would think, if you heard this term, that it means merely the cutting of the opal, but actually it encompasses the whole process of grading, sawing, sanding, polishing, weighing and often marketing the stone.

Back: Obviously the back of the stone. This can be black, semi-black, brown-grey, light-grey, white, transparent or full of opal color, depending on the type of opal. (See opal definitions.) In the mass production of triplets, microscope slides are often used as a backing for triplets.

You can make your own natural backs for triplets and doublets out of sliced potch, black, white, or grey. (see section on triplet and doublet cutting) Crystal tops are mass produced and available from specialized suppliers. You can make your own triplet top or cap from glass or crystal quartz. (see ‘triplet’ section)


Dop Stick: - Fig. 87A stick which is glued or ‘dopped’ to the stone, so that it can be held in the hand and fashioned by the opal cutter. These dop sticks can be made from steel (as in large nails or alluminium), or wood. (Made from doweling material used in curtains and available from hardware stores in various thickness)

Cabochon: ‘Cab’ for short. (French: caboche “head) A stone which is polished but not faceted. Cut and polished in a convex shape, or domed shape.

Craze: A crack in the opal, often seen only under magnification.

Calibrate: - Fig. 88 To cut the stone into a specific shape and size that suits the manufacturing jeweler. (Usually ovals, rarely rectangles) The most popular sizes are: 6mm (round) and ovals: 6x4mm, 7x5mm, 8x6mm, 10x8mm, 12x10mm, 14x10mm, 18x13mm, and for use in belt buckles, large pendants, bolas and brooches, etc.25x18mm, 30x22mm and 40x30mm. A plastic template giving all these sizes and more are available from most lapidary stores, but make sure the chart you buy has as many of these important sizes as possible. Particularly 8x6mm, 10x8mm and 18x13mm.


Figure 87

Figure 88

Carborundum: A diamond-like dust that comes in different grades of fine-ness that can be used as a gradual cutting and sanding medium to fashion stones. The dust can be used in a tumbler or vibrator to polish free shaped opals. It is also made into grinding wheels. (See Fig. 89 )

Freeform: An irregular shaped stone. Anything that can not be described as an oval, a triangle or a square, etc.

Face: The top of the stone where all the color is found. Sometimes it is a challenge for the opal cutter to determine which side of the stone should be ‘faced’ when there is good color on both sides.

Lap: from Lapidary. (Pertaining to cutting precious stones.) - Fig. 90 -A disc that revolves and can be f i t t e d w i t h e i t h e r m e t a l impregnated with diamond, Carborundum grit, wet and dry sandpaper and various other cutting mediums and polishes. The lap shown here has wet and dry sandpaper fitted.

The lap can have a rubber, felt, or leather backing, depending on whether the stone is to be ground, sanded or polished.


Figure 89A freeform chunk of boulder

opal still in rough form.

Figure 90Free shaped boulder opal Funstones.

Many modern laps come with various diamond grades from course to very fine so as to handle the complete process. Lapidary clubs can help define the procedures.

Some opal cutters prefer Felt, and others Leather, to complete the polishing process. Care with speed has to be taken with felt, as it tends to get very hot. Some cutters allow grooves to develop in felt wheels and use Pumice powder as a pre polish before Cerium or Tin Oxide.

I have found this to be unnecessary if a proper pre polish is accomplished using 500,600,700 or 800 grit sandpaper. (They all do the same thing, depending on how much they are worn and which brand you use) Carat: A small weight standard used in measuring precious stones. Originally, seed of the carob plant, used by the ancients as a weight standard. Five modern carats equal one gram.

Carats are used in weighing precious stones that have been completed. A 10x8mm solid opal with a medium dome weighs just over one carat, 8x6, just under.

Carat scales – Fig. 91 These were the only thing available for weighing carats in times past but today are nearly reaching antique status.


Figure 91

The modern electronic scales -Fig. 92 are more convenient to use, but far more costly. The compact version of these is very handy. Supplied by Traurig Bros. Of Sydney. (That is: “modern” in the year 1999, probably collector’s items in 2010.)

Troy oz: - Fig.93 A traditional measurement used in weighing rough opal or other precious materials such as gold or silver. A troy oz contains twenty pennyweights. 12 oz =1 pound. (0.82286 lb. avoirdupois) In recent times it has been the practice in Australia to use the decimal system for convenience since the troy system is not readily available and obviously more people are familiar with decimals.

Incidentally, in Lightning Ridge, rough opal is usually sold in job lots and not weighed at all, but in Coober Pedy, it is usually weighed


Figure 92

Figure 93

A “Parcel”: The term used to describe an amount of opal (whether rough or cut) to be sold as one lot. Terms like “splitting the parcel” are obvious. It happens when a customer likes one or more of the stones in the parcel, but does not want to buy the whole lot. If the miner or cutter is willing, a price is negotiated based on the quality selected and the amount chosen.

Solid Opal: - Fig. 94 An opal that is cut as a solid piece, without anyadded backing or capping. – please go to http://www.opalmine.com/pdf/opalnomenclture.pdf for the latest definitions of solids.

Doublet: A finished opal consisting of an opal top cemented to a black potch backing. The dark background then gives the appearance of natural black opal.

Triplet: A finished opal consisting of a quartz crystal top, a thin opal middle, and either potch or similar material


Figure 94

http://www.opalmine.com/pdf/opalnomenclture.pdf




Buying Rough Opal for Cutting

Until a few years ago, most opal available for either amateur or professional cutters has been white or crystal opal from the South Australian fields. In recent years, more opal has been found in the Lightning Ridge area and thus rough has been available for sale. Rough can be purchased in a variety or different conditions. As follows:

Mine Run: Direct from the mine. The stones have not been cut or ground down. This means that there is more guesswork in the cutting. You have the chance of making a bonanza or you could loose some or all of your money. Purchasing opal this way can be risky if you are not very experienced.

Off cuts: You buy this after the miner has removed whatever opal he has a market for. The quality of what is left is more obvious (but not always) and you can tell basically what you are going to be able to cut. Of course attention has to be paid to cracks in the opal or a good stone could be halved in value once the crack becomes obvious.

Rubs: This can often be the best way of buying rough if you are not very experienced. The miner has cut and ground the stones into basic shapes, after having removed most of the rubbish.

What you have left is the stone nearly ready for the dopping and polishing process. You can have the satisfaction of cutting your own stones without the high risk of buying mine run rough.


Opal is one of the easiest stones to cut. The problem is not in the cutting of the stone. The trick is in chasing the color and making sure that you approach it from the right direction. This takes time to learn but more common sense than anything else.

You know that you want the greatest amount of color with the least imperfections to be exposed, so let your eye tell you what to do. Just keep grinding away the imperfections as much as possible without losing the color.

Fashioning an opal out of the rough is a constant juggle

between imperfections, cracks, the height of the dome and the

thickness of the stone. Your eye will tell you that a larger stone will need to be thicker than a small stone. Obviously you want the dome, particularly on an oval stone, to be nice and high so that when you go to set it, the claws or bezel (see jewelry making later) will easily fit and not chip away the edges of the stone.


Tips for Cutting

A good move would be to spend a little time at a lapidary club and find out the basics of cabochon cutting. Be sure to keep your end use in mind before you decide on shapes.

If you are just cutting a piece to put in your collection, the shape may be of no consequence. If however, you are going to have it set in a piece of jewelry, remember that it could make the job cheaper for you if you sacrifice a little of the opal and make it into a calibrated stone.

It’s cheaper to set calibrated stones than free form because cast settings can be used instead of hand made. Check in your local business phone directory under “jewelers-manufacturing” or “jewelry castings” to see if you can locate someone who supplies a catalogue of castings.


10 Steps in Cutting Opal

Briefly, here are the main steps for cutting all opal except boulder opal.

1) Examine and select the rough stone. Separating the good from the poor quality.,

2) Clean the stone. This is usually means a combination of grinding some potch away on the wet grinder, and slicing on the diamond blade, so that the direction of the color can be seen.

3) Decide on shapes. Allow the stone to dry and draw the shapes with a very sharp hard lead or aluminum pencil

4) Grind or slice off the unwanted areas. Using the grinder and diamond blade once again.

5) Put the stones on dopsticks. So that you can hold them without grinding your fingers away..

6) Grind and clean them into the desires shapes.7) Proceed with the sanding process, through approx. 3 different

sandpaper or diamond wheel grades.8) Final Polish. Using either Tin Oxide or Cerium oxide powder on a

leather or felt buff.9) Take the stones off the sticks with either boiling hot water, or if using

sealing wax…in a freezer.10) Reverse the stones, re - dop them, and repeat the process.


Figure 95“The Den”… on a bad day, by the look of the

face.

Now let’s look at each of these procedures more closely:

Starting from a piece of mine-run opal. (That is a piece of opal that is right out of the ground without any cutting or human interference.) This section applies mainly to seam, knobby, and pipe opal, not boulder opal. Boulder opal cutting while based on the same methods has to be approached in a different manner. (See below))

1. Examine the stone carefully for any hint of color. Use a lapidary grindstone that has water running over it. (Possibly a 220 or 320 grit carborundum or diamond wheel, or courser if you are careful)

a) Carefully grind away the opal potch until you can see where the color is going. When you have exposed enough color, you must determine which side of the stone is going to form the top and which the back. Sometimes there is more than one line or bar of colour. You have to decide where to slice the stone to get the most results from these bars.

This decision is based on where you think the color is going to be brighter and the back blacker. (In the case of a black opal) The same applies to white opal, but the back may be light in color or have no dark background at all in the case of a full crystal.

b) In the case of boulder opal, it is usually necessary to slice the stone with the diamond blade first and “block” it out. (That means to cut it into workable chunks) Examine very carefully which way the seams of opal are going, and then decide which side of the thin veins you will remove the ironstone.

This is very tricky, even for an experienced boulder cutter because you cannot see inside the stone and you will always cut through color that you should not but you just have to make the most of it and cut the shapes according to where the slices happen to be. You can minimize this by using your wet grinder a lot to determine which direction the veins are going before you start slicing


2. When the face of the stone is completely exposed, allow it to dry out first and check for crazes. (cracks) This is very important because many cracks do not appear until the stone is dry. Mark these with a sharp hard lead pencil. (If you use a marker pen, in most cases it will wash off as you grind further.)

Use the same pencil to mark out the shape you want, carefully avoiding as many imperfections as possible. You may be tempted to cut a large stone, but keep in mind that two or three perfect stones may be a lot more valuable than one big ugly one.

Having said that of course, if you are a goldsmith or you are familiar with the process of Electro-forming, you can cover some of these imperfections with gold.

3. Remember the end use of your stone. Perhaps you will need to calibrate it. In which case, get a pencil with very hard lead and make it very sharp. (Or make an aluminum (alluminium in Australia) pen out of a rod and sharpen it.) This way you can lay your calibrating template over the area you want to cut and mark the exact shape on the stone. (Refer to ‘Calibrate’ to determine popular sizes.) With a lot of practice you can do this by eye, but this will get you started.

4. Use your diamond blade – Fig. 96 (10 thou blade is a good all-round size.) When using the diamond blade, don’t force it to cut. Just rest the stone against the blade and allow it to do its job. If the stone is quite thick, you may need to pull it away from the blade and allow the water to clean the incision.

If you are making an oval, you can cut the corners off and save the off cuts for use in chip jewelry. If you do this, be sure to leave at least 1mm space, so you do not undercut the stone. The thickness of the stone is determined by the amount of opal you have to play with. If it is a thick stone, you may have to cut it down. Larger stones will be thicker, smaller stones thinner. You have to get the feel of this. If the color is thick enough, you can consider slicing it down the middle and making two stones. But practice first or you could ruin some good


stones. I remember turning a $6000 black opal into a $10,000 stone by making two stones out of one thick bar of color. The Miner was delighted!

5. Allow the stone to dry out and examine it carefully to make sure you have not missed any cracks (you might need one of these if your eyes are like mine after 30 years glaring at stones.) – It is now ready for dopping.


Figure 96 and 97

The old process of dopping - Fig. 98 (right) involved the use of sealing wax and a metholated spirits (wood alcohol) lamp, and was a drawn out process

Fig. 99 The most efficient method now, is to use quick dry epoxy (Called araldite in Australia.) Mix up just enough epoxy to do the stones you have cut. Put the dopsticks in a stand, and put a little epoxy on each one. Then carefully balance the stones, back down (so that the face is looking at you) on the sticks. Leave them to dry preferably overnight, although if you are careful, you can work on them within an hour.

6. With your wet grinder, proceed to fashion the stones into the desired shape, taking off the rough edges(Fig. 100)

It’s best to do this whole process with some cheap potch first so that you can get the feel of it before trying a good stone.

A few lessons at a lapidary club would be good before you attempt this because it is difficult to explain by writing. However, one hand is used to hold the stone and the other to twist it and rotate it so as to get a perfect dome or flat or whatever surface is desired. You are actually using your hands like a flexible lathe.


Figure 98

7. The next process is sanding.- Fig 101 If using sandpaper, start with around 320 grit. If it is new paper, you may have to rub a little potch on it to take away the sharpness.

Or you can leave a l i t t le more roughness on the stone from the grinding wheel and take it off on the sander.

Fig. 99 By using disc cement on your rubber lap, you can peel off each grade of sandpaper and replace it with another without having to have a whole lot of different laps.

Some cutters use soft rubber on the lap believing that it will be easier to fashion the stone, but I believe that harder rubber backing is better, particularly when a flat surface is being sanded.

To get the scratches out of the middle of flat surfaces, you have to sand right on the edge of the stone. This means you have to make sure to cut your sandpaper discs about a quarter of an inch (8-10mm) wider than your sanding disc.

8. Remember that getting the “feel” of opal cutting involves the juggling of various grades of sandpaper. A worn 320 can be similar in effect to a new 600, and a worn 600 can have a similar effect to a new 1200. (Also remember that the higher the number on the sandpaper sheet or diamond powder, the finer the polish. i.e. a 600 sandpaper or diamond dust is much finer than a 320 grit.)

It is important to detect whether or not your paper is cutting or polishing. If you have not removed all the scratches on the 320 paper or new 600, you will not get them out when the paper is worn or finer.


Figure 99

Figure 100

Of course if you have come off the 320 sander onto the 600 and the scratches are still not out, you can move the stone toward the middle of the lap(if it is a high domed stone)where you will find some 600 grit that is still quite new, or you can work the stone at the extremities of the lap(if the stone is flat) where the action is faster and more able to “dig” in more.

Be careful you do not slip or you will cut your finger on the edge of the sandpaper.

This is a way of getting rid of scratches without going back to the previous polish. Of course you can only do this while there is life left in your paper. Eventually it will be worn right across the surface, or torn on the edges. Carefully examine each of the steps as you proceed toward the final process, checking minor scratches, and you will get an impressive polish.

While you are doing this, you will experience all the little annoyances, such as:

Sandpaper sticking to the disc and tearing as you take it off. This happens for two reasons. First that you have not allowed enough time for the disc cement to dry after you have given it a new coat, before putting the new sheet on, and secondly that you have left the paper on for a long time and done a lot of sanding. The paper tends to “weld” itself to the rubber.

It’s wise to take the papers off the lap at reasonably short intervals if you want to avoid this. Of course if you have been pulling the sheets on and off for a long time, the cement won’t be so sticky. You will find that, even if the papers are threatening to drop off, once you heat the wheel up a bit by putting pressure on it with a stone, the cement comes to life again. Disc cements can be restored to adhesion by heat, until there is an excess of dust buildup.

If you find that your wheel is getting full of bits of paper from the back of the sandpaper, use some Mineral turps, or Petrol (motor spirit) to


clean the wheel, and eventually re-cement it with disc cement. Metholated spirits will not clean disc cement.

Stones flicking off sticks. This usually happens if you get them too hot, and is more prone to happen when you are cleaning the backs of the stones because the polished surface that is seated onto the dopstick does not hold the glue as well as the rough back of the stone. Allow longer time to dry.

If you are using water based glue for dopping, allow plenty of time to dry and if you want to be sure they won’t come off, turn the sticks the other way around and put some more glue on so that the whole stone is adhered. Then allow plenty of time for that glue to dry as well. You can hurry this process up a bit by applying a blower heater to them but if you get yourself into a good system, it’s best to leave them overnight.

If you are using quick dry epoxy, allow a few hours for it to dry, butBE VERY CAREFUL WHEN TAKING THE GLUE OFF THE TOP OF THE STONE. It is easy for the glue to “pull” sections of the stone away. Use boiling water to get the stones off the sticks and soak the stones in wood alcohol (metholated spirits or vinegar) to dissolve the epoxy. Boiling water can also be used to remove stones from the water based white glue as well.

9. If the stone does not have a nice high dome and is rather flat, keep in mind that it is necessary to make sure it has a “setting edge” all around the stone. The best way to explain what I mean by this is for you to imagine that you’re trying to close four gold claws over the stone, or you’re trying to rub a gold bezel over the edge of it to hold it in the setting. Every stone must have a “shoulder”, even if it is only a very small one.


If there is no “chamfer” or slight angle, or setting edge, it will be very difficult to close the claws or the bezel over it without chipping the edge. So, even if a bit of the black potch or ironstone backing shows as you grind the stone, it must not have a sharp edge around the rim. The greater the setting edge, the easier it is to set.

10.The Sanding Process (Fig. 101), proceed to the final stage, which is the polish. I find a leather lap the best, primed with cerium oxide. You can try various grades of this but some cerium is so good that you can take some small scratches out with it even when you have missed them in the sanding process.

This is done by priming it with a generous amount and holding the stone right on the edge of the leather lap, making sure that you don’t overheat it.

11.When the top of the stone is complete, it’s time to dop again, this time with the front of the stone down. Then repeat the process mentioned above, to finish the bottom of the stone. If you are cutting an oval and the shape is not perfect, you can often correct it while cutting the back, just by readjusting the side of the stone. At this point the stone can be weighed and bagged.

NOTE: The above process is applicable mainly if you are using the old fashioned sanding process, which I still prefer. You can make it a lot easier on yourself if you go into a full diamond cutting and polishing system which could cost around $1500. In which case, your suppliers may be able to arrange some lessons for you. But my process can be assembled very cheaply and pieces of sandpaper are a lot less expensive to throw away than diamond wheels when they wear out. And frankly, the system I use, in my opinion is just as effective, if not more. Please refer to the section, “How to build an opal cutting machine” if you want to try your hand.


Figure 101

Figure 102

Traps for Young PlayersHere’s what happened to me when I started.

Stones kept coming off the dopsticks. (This was disastrous back then because we always used sealing wax on the dopsticks and the wax would dig itself into the sandpaper, taking away it’s abrasiveness.)

Today with epoxies it’s not as bad, but still annoying because you have to re-dop all the time. The main reason for this problem is that you are forcing the process too much. Applying too much pressure and causing too much heat. Epoxy does not like heat. So have a few stones on sticks and if you feel one heating up, put it down, let it cool and so onto another. Be patient!!!

Another problem was that the Carborundum wheel kept getting out of balance. Make sure you purchase a diamond-correcting tool - fig. 102 Learn how to even the stone up and keep the surface smooth. Of course if you are using diamond wheels, this will not be necessary. Diamond wheels are fine for most opal cutting but, unless you have specialized round edge diamonds, they are no good for boulder opals or other opals with concaves (valleys) in the surface.

Be prepared for the stone that flicks off the stick and gets lost in the room. Try to have enough cover over your sander particularly so that stones that come off are flicked back onto your work area. (See my sander/polisher design) If you have a concrete floor, put an old piece of carpet under your workbench in case you drop a stone.


Make sure your lighting is good. (Fig. 103) Buy yourself a proper extendible desk light or two and keep them away from the water. Make sure all switches and electrical motors are protected from splashing for obvious reasons. Get yourself a comfortable chair. Preferably one that is adjustable so that you can get the right position. When sanding, remember the dust in the air and if you are not using water when sanding, be extra careful of breathing silica dust. If you’re doing a lot of work, wear a mask, but better still try the suggestion of having a controlled water source over your sanding lap. As soon as things get dusty, give it a squirt of water.

Purchase some jewelers magnifying lenses, but make sure that the magnification is appropriate for the distance you like to sit away from your work area. Before purchasing, take a measurement of this distance and get the right item. Of course if you have good eyesight, maybe you don’t need them. Some cutters use those cheap, magnification, reading glasses, and they seem to work well.


Figure 103

Large manufacturers of triplets have expensive multi-blade machines for slicing opal and this is a specialist area not to be attempted by the amateur. However, in most parcels of rough, there are a certain amount of stones that are too flat for cutting solid opal. These pieces can be put to good use as doublets, and hand made triplets if the opal is very thin. Bear in mind that a good quality doublet is often worth a lot more than a poor quality solid. Here are the steps involved in making these.

1. Determine which side is to be the top and which the back. Flatten the back on a wet diamond-flatting disc* or on the side of your Carborundum wheel. (You may have to remove the water jet from the top of the wheel and either hold it onto your work on the side of the wheel or rid up a jig to hold it.)

2. If there are any bits of dirt in the back of the opal slice, try to dig these out on the edge of your wheel. Or use a dental flexidrive** with a small diamond ball or bullet (if you have one), to grind away fine marks. It doesn’t matter if there are a few holes (as long as they are not too deep) in the back of your slice because these will not be noticed later when it is cemented onto the back. **Some hardware stores supply a cheap version of the dental machine, called a “dremel”.

3. Please note that there is another way of making doublets without having to flatten the back. You can make them into boulder doublets but this means that the joining edge will be uneven and you must mix some very fine boulder ironstone (that you can collect from your grinding wheel) with epoxy.


Making Doublets and

TripletsCH8

4. Try to match it so that the glue line will look the same as the ironstone back, thus giving you a natural looking doublet that looks like a solid boulder opal. You will have to experiment with this one till you perfect it as it takes a lot of experience. If you are using this process with Coober Pedy Shell off-cuts, and there is a large area to fill with epoxy, you will have some cracking problems if the glue shrinks, so keep the cavity as shallow as possible. This method will give you a better return from your doublet material, as there is very little waste. Be very careful not to overheat the stone when sanding doublets. You can easily crack the stone. Sand under water most of the time.

5. Save any black pieces of potch in a parcel. Slice them up for use as backings for doublets. When they have been sliced, they are usually flat enough to attach the opal slice. At this point, an old electric frying pan can come in handy because you can warm your stone up on it, making sure there is no moisture left on it. Try not to touch the front of the stone


! Fig 104 before the potch has been

blackened ready for the opal slice to be cemented on.

! Fig 105 after the potch has been blackened

ready for the opal slice to be cemented on.

with your fingers. Try to use tweezers, because the oils out of your skin could effect the cement later.

6. With the back of the opal slice facing upwards, black it out, using an Artline (or similar) spirit based texta pen (felt pen) so that no light is seen through the stone. (Don’t use water-based pens.) When you look at the face of the opal sliver, you will notice the depth of color coming out.

7. The stone then starts to take on the appearance of a black opal. A good way of handling your work is to cut up pieces of glass or stone, and put some blue tack (sticky stuff like play dough) on them. You can put your opal on the blue tack and handle it without getting your fingers too sticky.

8. Fig. 106 Mix the “A” and “B” parts of the epoxy together with a little nigrocene powder, (usually available at lapidary shops) put some of the glue on the slice of the black potch. Then place the opal slice, back (black side) down onto the slightly warmed potch backing. “Seat” it

down so that all air bubbles are removed and allow to dry. (Not too much heat. Epoxy does not like too much heat) If it is a cool day, just warm it up under the desk light for a while, or warm it on a hot plate.

S u g g e s t i o n : A s a l r e a d y mentioned, if you need a heat

source for your opal slices, use an old alluminium frying pan instead of an expensive heating plate. It has a controlled head and does the same job. Note: There is a disagreement as to whether quick dry or slow dry epoxies are better. I personally have not found any difference but slow dry is


! Figure 106

supposed to be a better cement so you can experiment with both.

9. When it is dry, you can pencil-draw the shape you want on the top of the stone and then slice and grind it into shape, after which you just put it onto a dop stick, the same way as you would an ordinary solid piece of opal. Then proceed to finish off the back in the same way as you would do with a solid, but make sure you don’t grind too much away from the edge of the back or you may undercut the opal on the top.(particular problem with triplets because of the clear crystal cap.) Experiment with a cheap one and you will know what I mean.

10. Fig. 107 As with solids, if it is a very flat stone, you need to cut a chamfer around the top to give it a setting edge. If you don’t do this, and if the stone is to be set by a manufacturing jeweller, he will find it very difficult to close the bezel or the claws on it without chipping the edge of the stone. Jewellers

just hate flat stones with a sharp edge. Don’t worry if the setting edge

shows from the top (as it will when making flat doublets or cutting boulder opals). It improves the look of the stone anyway, by giving it a small frame of dark material.


! Figure 107

NOTE: If you are unable to locate nigrocene powder, you can just use straight clear epoxy for your doublets. Just make sure that there is enough texta on the back of the opal slice so that no light is allowed to come through. Some triplet cutters also use flat black spray paint to cover the back of the slice. This seems to work OK, but you would need to test it out before making a lot of stones. Some also use Indian ink…. and it may be possible to buy black epoxy. You can experiment.

Keep in mind too, that it doesn’t matter how solid your black color is on the back of the

stone, if the front of the stone is very crystalline or jelly-like, and if you haven’t taken all the little marks out of the back in the grinding

process, they will show up as you look into the stone. Actually they will be accentuated (made to stand out) against a background of darkness. So after you have cleaned up your doublet top,

take a close look at it after it dries to make sure that all rubbish is taken away from the back,

before you blacken it.


If you don’t blacken the back of your opal slice, you will have trouble with air bubbles showing through. Professional triplet makers have this problem all the time when cementing on the clear crystal caps. Experience will show you how to avoid this by being careful not to stir the glue vigorously, and heating it to evaporate the bubbles. Some pass a careful flame over it to get the same effect. If you were doing triplets on a larger scale, you would be better to experiment with ultra violet light sensitive glues. But these glues are no good for doublets as the ultra violet light must shine through the top of the stone to be effective.

I must say that triplet making is better done by cutters who have a constant supply of the right type of rough opal for triplet cutting. At this point (1999) even the professional cutters are finding it difficult to get supplies from miners they have been dealing with for years. In my opinion, doublets are more satisfying for the average “bloke” to attempt.


If you want to take the process a step further, to make your stones more useable and sellable, you can set them. Obviously to do this properly, especially with high quality stones, you have to take a course in manufacturing jewelry, which, if you have had no experience, could be a long, drawn-out affair. Your local learning centers and jewelry and craft clubs will be able to advise you about that.

Basic Terms Associated with Jewelry Setting

Finding: A piece of jewellery that has been cast. However, the term has been extended to encompass all cheaper settings, some which are findings, others pressings. (Shapes cut out with a press.)

Fig. 108,109 Gold Plated findings to suit standard calibrated settings


Setting your Stones

CH9

Figure 108 Figure 109

Plating: G.P (gold plate) thickness measured in microns. Often used in cheaper jewelry to give brass or another base metal a gold appearance. S.P, (silver plate) R.P (Rhodium plate) - rhodium is often used in cheap settings in preference to silver as it is harder and does not tarnish like silver. S.G.P., (silver gold plate) G.F (Gold filled)

Filigree: Delicate, lace-like ornamental designs. Once done by hand, but now can be cast. Usually associated with more ornate (complicated) designs rather than plain straightforward designs.Antique: As the name suggests, it resurrects designs that could be hundreds of years old, often associated with filigree and ornate “scroll” and “leaf” shapes.

Organic: Fig 110 (right) Designs that roughly resemble what is seen in nature, such as the roots of trees and leaves, etc. Above is an example of a large free form triplet wrapped in 14k yellow gold using the lost-wax system of creating organic designs.Please note that definitions of jewelry items do vary from one country to another.

Claw set: Stone is held in by claws. Most popular, four claws, but there can be any amount.

Bezel set: Metal is actually rolled onto the stone, or in the case of cheap gold plated settings, the bezel looks as though it is being held in by the gold. (Actually, it is the cement at the back of the stone doing the job.)


Figure 110

Bale: The small hanger attached to the top of a pendant that the chain goes through. Some bales are made as a part of the pendant itself. Others have to be attached by hand.

Bell Cap: A small cap that comes in various shapes and sizes that can be cemented onto the top of a cheaper stone to make it useable as a pendant with very little expense. Bales usually have to be fitted to the top after cementing.

Jump Ring: The small rings used to attach things onto a pendant or bracelet.

Parrot Clip: A small clip or clasp that looks a little like a parrot beak, used to join chains or bracelets together.

Fish Hook: Pierced earring fitting that resembles a fishhook.

Continental Clip: Pierced earring fitting that resembles a fishhook but with a safety clip attached.

Butterfly Clip: A small pin that goes through the ear, usually with a small gold ball attached. The clip is secured in the ear by a small clutch resembling a butterfly. These can be used either for stud or drop earrings.

Stud Earring: Where the earring actually sits on the ear itself. These can be either pierced, clamp or screw.

Drop Earring: When the stone or jewelry item drops or dangles from the ear lobe. These can be either pierced, clamp or screw.


Clamp Earring: The fitting holds onto the ear lobe with a clamp system.

Screw Earring: The fitting holds on to the ear lobe using a screw system.

Screw Clamp: both an adjustable screw and a spring hinge hold the earring.

Shank: In rings, the part that surrounds the finger. The top part is called the shoulder. The shank can be tapered, (wider at the top near the setting, and narrower at the bottom) or reverse tapered. (opposite)


If you want to specialize in cutting opal, (which in my opinion is the most satisfying and lucrative) then leave all the complicated stuff to the experts. If you have had no background in manufacturing jewelry, this process is best left up to someone who has learnt it from youth, unless your goals are in working with metal as well as or instead of stone.

There are plenty of small manufacturing jewelers who will make up your stones at a very reasonable price. Markets or Swap Meets are good places to locate these, or the business section of your telephone directory under ‘Manufacturing Jewelers’.

Many of these Jewelers may want to know who the heck you are, because they may be used to dealing with the ‘Trade’ and do not want to give the best prices to the ‘Public’ or people not in the ‘Trade’. I found the best approach, (after you speak with a little authority as a result of reading this book) is to tell them you are an opal dealer, embarking on a new business, and you would like to get prices on the following items:

Pendants, rings, earrings, (most popular jewelry items) broaches, pins, bracelets, etc. (not so popular). If you have a flair for designing, then submit your own designs. If not, get the jeweler to make suggestions and get him to quote you in whatever metal you want. Silver, 9, 10, 14,18ct gold (yellow or white), and whether you want some small diamonds to accompany the design.


Take a Look at Your Goals in Wanting to Deal in Opal

Keep in mind that some jewelers specialize in certain metals. Some silversmiths don’t like working in gold and some goldsmiths don’t work in silver. Some do both. Some only do hand made goods. Some work in wax and do casting. You have to locate the right guy.

Keep in mind values too. You would not want to put an expensive black opal in a silver setting and it would not be logical to put a cheap opal in solid gold. It would be better to put it in silver and if you like the gold tone, have it plated with gold.

This can be a bit of a problem with rings, as the plating does wear off in time, so it may just be better to spend a little extra money and have it made in a lower grade gold such as 9 or10k. Pendants and brooches, or anything that does not come in direct contact with the skin are fine in gold plate.

Gold: Because this metal is so often used in conjunction with opal (as with all precious stones), I thought it informative to give a brief description of its properties. It comes in 10k, 12k, 14k, and 18 karat standards (a “Karat” or “Carat” – originally the horn shape pod of a carob tree used by the ancients) 14k & 18k (or ct.) is popular in the US, 9k and 18k in the U.K. and 18k in Europe. People often get confused


between applying the term “carat” to both gold and precious stones. For this reason, we offer an extended explanation of a carat in this discussion about gold.

Carat, term expressing the ratio of precious metal to base metal in an alloy; also a unit of weight for precious stones. In the first sense, a carat (usually spelled karat) indicates 1/24 part by weight of a precious metal, such as gold, in an alloy. Thus, 18-karat gold is 18/24 or 3/4 gold, and 24-karat gold is pure gold. As a unit of weight for precious stones, the international metric carat, now used by most countries, was standardized by the U.S. government in 1913 at 200 mg, or 0.2 g. This standard carat is divided decimally; 0.01 carat is usually called a point.


Pure gold is the most malleable and ductile of all the metals.It can easily be beaten or hammered to a thickness of 0.000013 cm (0.000005 in), and 29 g (1.02 oz) could be drawn into a wire 100 km (62 miles) long. It is one of the softest metals (hardness, 2.5 to 3) and is a good conductor of heat and electricity.

Many people view the ownership of the gold as being more important than the wearing of it, and insist on either 22 or 24-carat (pure) gold. Others just enjoy wearing it for the beauty and rarity of the metal. (For general purpose wearing, particularly for rings with claws, this is not practical, as the claws are so soft, it can release the stone.) Bezel or rub-in settings may be different, and it is easier for the jeweler to work in the softer gold.

There are different ways or expressing the above standards.The standard described above is expressed in fractions of 24. The other system is decimal, expressed in percentage of 1000 as follows:

9 Carat 375

10 Carat 415

12 Carat 500

14 Carat 585

22 Carat 917

24 Carat 1000


Understanding this remarkable metal

Silver can be pure, or that near to it that it doesn’t matter. The British standard, which is accepted practically everywhere, is called Sterling Silver. (925) Keep in mind that standards for silver definitely vary from one country to another, particularly in third world countries. A tourist may be told that an item is silver but it is not necessarily Sterling Silver and could be of inferior quality. Not that there is any big deal in this anyway as silver is a very cheap metal, costing in the vicinity of 50 cents per gram, depending on supply and demand, whereas pure gold can cost between $20 and $30 per gram.

As a rough guide, buying gold direct from the refiners (at this date. October 1997) will cost approximately the same amount (or a little less) per gram as its carat standard. (I.e., 18 carat gold is around about US $10 to $15 per gram, depending on the price for the day and whether there has been a major war, or catastrophe, in which case many people start buying gold for security reasons.)

Another approach to having your opal set is to get a jeweler to make up a design to a specific calibration such as a 10x8mm opal. (See section on calibrations) This can be done in a cheaper metal such as silver because you are not going to actually use the ring to wear or sell, you will keep it as a standard for mass production. [Update in 2008. Gold has now doubled in value.]

The jeweler who knows about casting will understand that he has to make the calibration about 10% larger, because in the casting process, the gold shrinks slightly.

It’s a good idea to talk to a Caster about this before you see the jeweler, so that you know his methods because they all vary slightly. You can find casters, again, in your telephone directory under ‘Jewelers-Casters’ or ‘Precious Metal Castings’. Some Casters have a catalogue of items


already available in standard sizes, which could save you all the trouble of creating a new design. Prices of castings will depend on the amount of items you order.

An Easier and Cheaper Method Keep in mind that, at least in the US and most of the Western world, for every person who can afford $500 for a jewelry item, there are 500 that can spend $50. This is much different in Japan. Until the recent downturn, a Japanese opal dealer friend of mine, nearly a billionaire doesn’t bother much buying stones under $5,000. His best market is $10,000, and he sells lots of them between $20,000 and $30,000. One day I was with him when he paid $35,000 for a stone, just with ‘pocket money’!

During one trip to Osaka, when I put on an Australian display in a little boutique belonging to a friend of mine, I was amazed at all the little ladies arriving on their push bikes with purses stuffed with Japanese Yen. (They rarely use checks in Japan) In one week we sold around $50 000. (That was before the earthquake upset the economy. We will be going back again when things settle down. In the meantime I’m writing this book.)

Back to the point though: If the stone is nearly a popular calibrated size (such as 6x4, 7x5, 8x6 or 10x8 or any of the other size mentioned earlier) you can take a little extra time to calibrate it. Then you will be able to fit your stones very simply into standard gold plated and silver settings, which will cost just a few dollars.

I am able to supply a lot of these ‘findings’ as they are called in Australia, but if you search, again, in your telephone directory under ‘Jewelry findings’ or ‘Plated jewelry’, you should be able to locate a catalogue.


1. Quick Dry Epoxy Resin, ‘A’ and ‘B’ packs. (Ask in your hardware store)

2. Blue-Tack (as it’s called in Australia) - a material that resembles chewing gum but not as Sticky. Perhaps known as ‘play dough’ - normally used for the temporary sticking of things on walls. You can also use plasticine, but it leaves a residue and has to be wiped off.

3. Tooth picks or matches. (Flattened like a small spatchelor on the end for best control)

4. A good desk lamp. (100-150w)5. Metholated spirits (wood alcohol - ‘metho’ for short) - for cleaning

and removing poorly set stones, and wiping sticky fingers.6. Some plastic or wooden rulers or strips of wood.7. Some cardboard. small pieces of (Old business cards are perfect 8. Sheet of wet and dry sandpaper. (Can be from 220 to 600 grit.

Check at your hardware store.) This is easier to handle if you pin it or cement it onto a flat piece of wood

9. A heavy needle or better still a sharp pointed instrument with a wooden handle that can be used for scratching metal surfaces.

10. A quantity of seal-top plastic bags.11. A pair of setting pliers - Fig. 111

(above) The handiest little plier shape I have ever used.


Items needed for setting cheap findings

Figure 111

1. Cover your workplace with old cloth or a piece of newspaper to protect your desk.

2. Roll out some plasticine or Blue-Tack and place it on a plastic ruler. (Or strip of wood)

3. Using the plastic bags, sort out what stones are to be set in what settings. Make sure earring stones and earring/pendant sets match properly before starting. (Nothing worse than being in the middle of a setting job with the glue going off, and the wrong stones selected.)

4. Place the jewelry item (finding) onto the Blue-Tack, making sure it is as flat (horizontal) as possible. Use thicker Blue-Tack if your item is odd shaped underneath. Brooches always need a higher “hill” of blue tack so that they can sit evenly. If you are gluing bell caps, stand the stones in the blue-tack, open the bell caps right up, and place a healthy dollop of the glue on top of each stone and seat the caps on top. Allow drying before you close the extensions of the bell cap down.

5. With a flattened toothpick or match, mix approximately equal portions of epoxy resin together on a piece of cardboard. (Don’t mix too much or you will waste your glue because it goes off quite quickly. As soon as it becomes tacky, you must stop using it.)

By experience you will learn, but for a start, only mix up enough to set about five pendants, if you’re doing bulk setting. If only one stone, just mix up the equivalent of about two match heads.


Method

6. Make sure your setting is not too smooth. If the gold is very shiny, you should scratch it a little with a sharp instrument. If the stone is too smooth on the back, rough it up a little on the sandpaper. This will prevent stones from becoming dislodged later, particularly when you are relying totally on the strength of the glue, as in the case of cementing bell caps.

7. Using the toothpick, place a drop of the glue in the middle of each setting, perhaps scattering it around a little. Trial and error will teach you not to put too much or too little glue in the setting, otherwise it will come out the sides.It’s better to put a little more than less, to make sure the setting is secure. If a little comes out the sides, just wipe it away with a cloth, and clean the top of the stone with metholated spirits before it dries. If some glue remains after it dries, try scratching it off with your fingernail, or a sharp knife. But take care with the knife or you will pull some of the opal away.

8. Sometimes the bezels (see jewelry definitions) on the cheaper jewelry are slightly larger than the calibrated stone. In this case, the stone has to be adjusted so that if there is a gap between the stone and the edge of the bezel, it is equal right around the stone. In other words, you have to center the stone, otherwise it will slip to the side, and will have to be soaked overnight in metho (wood alcohol), removed and reset.


9. If you are setting a finding with claws and no back, just put a little glue at the base of each of the claws to keep the stone in place until you close the claws down. By bending two of the claws on one end of the setting, to the approximate shape of the stone, you can slip the stone under the bent ends and wait for it to dry. It is then simple to close the remaining claws. This method is very helpful for setting clusters of claw settings when it is difficult to get the setting pliers into the innermost claws.

10. Many of the finding suppliers also supply jewelry boxes for the varying types of settings. You can also find details for these in phone books under the heading ‘Jewelry Boxing’. If you don’t want to go to this expense cut pieces of neat white cardboard to fit sealed top plastic bags and use them as display packs. You can use these either for pendants and brooches or for single stones. In the case of unset stones, if you have a carat scale, you can weigh them and show the carat weight neatly somewhere on the white card.

Caution: Be careful when removing doublets and triplets from settings using metholated spirits. If you leave them in too long, you can release the cap on the top of the triplet because metho dissolves epoxy resin, and some triplets are made from epoxy.

Try to have a little ventilation when using epoxies. As with all glues, it’s best not to inhale them too much. Perhaps a small fan will help, or just keep a window open, or at least work in an area that is not too closed up.


If you are wanting to turn your opal setting into a small business, you may want to consider buying some of your stones from a dealer in calibrated

form, particularly if you are catering for the lower end of the industry, selling to friends, at Swap Meets or Jewelry parties.

Keep in mind that many people like the look of the black opal, but obviously can’t afford to spend thousands of dollars. In this case, triplets are the answer, and you can get a triplet price list and order them at your

leisure to the exact sizes you want. I can help you with all sorts of calibrated stones if you need them.

And here is a good tip: An 18x13 bright triplet could cost in the vicinity of $50 or more, but the same thing in a ‘mosaic’ triplet may be around

one third of that price. These stones are very interesting to look at. These are suggestions. It’s up to you to experiment and test your market.

Many people prefer the more delicate subdued color of the white opal. These too are available as calibrated stones and you can set them

in cheap jewelry the same way as described above. They are roughly the same price as the triplets in different grades.


Choice of Stones for Settings

The following is an outline that will give you some guidelines about the value of the stone. The fact of the matter is that understanding opal only comes with experience, and to keep up with the price structure, you have to be involved constantly in buying selling and dealing.

If you are not able to do that, it’s best to work with someone who has had a good reputation over a long period of time. Generally speaking, it would not be worth this person’s reputation to cheat you on prices. You have to be careful, even in this case, but over the years I have found that people who are in the business for a long time have a certain honor that they try to maintain.

I am able to transfer many thousands of dollars worth of goods back and forward between these people without so much as an insurance policy. Having said that, the old adage still applies…”let the buyer beware”.

Valuing opal is difficult because of the many factors, which must be considered. It requires considerable experience and even then, it is open to questioning by others who have a different market demand, and after all, it is people’s personal preferences that determine how much they are prepared to pay for any commodity.

Having said that, there is an basic criteria or accepted standard that can be considered that involves the presentation of color and, in addition, the perfection of the cut and polish, and the size of the a cut stone.


Valuing your stones

CH10

Body Color: Black or dark opal is in generally more valuable than white or light opal, other things such as amount of color and perfection of shape being equal.

Play of color: Several aspects are taken into consideration:1. The extent or overall completeness of the play of color. The stone

should face well, that is there should be an even play of color all over the stone with no dead patches of colorless or inferior opal.

2. The pattern of the stone must be impressive and flashy, not static without activity.

3. The intensity or brilliance of the play of color.

The colors should be of maximum brightness and clarity, giving a sharp appearance. They must not be just surface colors but must be intriguing in that the eye is attracted to actually “look in” beyond the surface and search for more intrigue.

The stone must have the contrasts similar to a rainbow. For the ultimate value all colors of the spectrum should be present, especially red as well as violet/purple, which is very rare.

A top Gem quality stone (expressed as A1 by some) must be free from crazes or flaws have a nice dark background. (The blacker the better) and have an excellent variety of color and brilliance. The presence of Red makes it even more valuable but Gem quality stones can be in any color. Harlequin is the most valuable and rare opal pattern. – Fig. 112


Figure 112

Don’t get confused by the above comments. What is preferred in opal color is largely a matter of personal choice. It’s true that price is effected by perfection but the fact is that opal is a personality stone, and what one person loves is not by another. I have shown large parcels of opal to very rich people who have chosen pasty white opal in preference to the high grade black.

The old Opal Miner’s Hut is just down the road from one of the premier entertainment centers in Australia. Hence we constantly had visitors from international people, keen to buy opal souvenirs.

Sammy Davis Jr. was an example of that. He just loved large white stones and bought a heap from me during his visit to Tweed Heads. Rolf Harris, the singer and writer of “tie me Kangaroo down sport” loves boulder opal with all its unusual patterns. Stones that are not necessarily so expensive. Neil Sadaka’s (is that how ya spell it?) Soundman liked something completely different, while Charlie Daniel’s’ whole band loved everything and didn’t buy anything, even though I still communicate with them by e-mail. (It was a bit of a rush behind the stage after his show.. And the lighting was lousy.) The Big River Band nearly had their fuzzy hair, full of inflammable hair lacquer, put alight under the heat of my showroom lights. We wondered what the smell was. They didn’t buy anything either!


Valuing opal is not easy. Actually, apart from gold, which has a set value that is announced each day, very few things are easy to value. How does a real estate agent work out how much your house is worth? Usually by finding out how much someone else’s house of equivalent size and quality, sold recently in your street. The same goes for opal values. It is often established by what people are willing to pay for it. While it’s true that this value goes up and down in the short term, over a period of time, the values keep climbing as you can see by the following chart of comparisons in the ten years between 1970 and 1980.

People have tried to establish constancy in valuations by controlling markets, as in the case of the diamond market. Diamonds would not have the value they have today, if all the diamonds had been allowed to be released to the public.


Figure 113

By controlling the flow, prices can be maintained with more consistency. The problem with this is if another large field of diamonds are found, (such as has recently been the case in Western Australia) and the owners of this new find do not cooperate with the selling organization in South Africa, (as seems to be happening at present) the price of diamonds could plummet.

Of coarse this is the case with any commodity including opal, but the difference is that opal finds it’s price level according to supply and demand. Because this process is ongoing, what you pay for an opal is more likely to reflect the actual price that someone is willing to pay for it, and therefore, it should be pretty close to market value.

Obviously if a miner sells his stones to you at the best price, you must have offered at least a little more that the previous

dealer. In fact, a miner will often tell you (whether this is correct or not) what offers he has on the stone. And of course, a dealer can compare between one parcel and

another. Don’t be afraid to negotiate to get the best price.

As already stated, how to actually know what a stone is worth is an art best left up to the dealers who are buying and selling all the time. As you cut more and more stones, and you get opinions from various dealers, gradually you will work out your own system and get a pretty good idea of prices.

With today’s communications system, you can browse lots of stones on the www.opalmine site, and gain valuable experience. You can leave questions on the chat show and communicate with me directly by e-mail if you need some help.


http://www.opalmine

http://www.opalmine

Please note: Size of stones has a big bearing on values. For example you could buy a nice quality 7x5mm crystal for as little as $50 or less per carat, whereas the same quality stone in an 18x13mm size could be worth $150 per carat.

White opal: prices start at around $2 per carat, and go up to about $20 per carat.

Crystal opal: prices start at around $10 per carat and go up to around $200 or more per carat for exceptional Lightning Ridge pieces. But there are many crystals in the $50 per carat vicinity.

Semi black opal can start at around $10 per carat and go up to around $500 per carat for red on grey. There are many stones in this category for around $100 to $200 per carat. As semi black gets darker, it becomes a matter of opinion as to whether it is semi black or black.

Black opals can start from around $50 per carat for blue on black which is not so bright, (cheaper if the color is weaker) up to around $100 to $200 if the blue is very bright on pitch black.

Blue-green dull stones start at around $100 per carat and can go up to $1000 and more, particularly if they have a little yellow as well, in which case they can go up to $1500 per carat and more.


This is roughly how opal values are worked out.

Orange/green on black can start at around $500 per carat if the pattern and color is not so good, and go up to $2500 per carat and more for exceptional stones.

Red on black can start at around $1000 per carat, but if the color is bright and the pattern sharp, they can go up to $5000 per carat and more. Exceptional stones which combine all the spectrum colors in sharp contrast can be nearly priceless, but many have sold from $3000 to $5000 per carat. Some dull red on black or dark grey can start a lot lower in price.

If some of these stones have, in the opinion of some rich miners, sold cheaply to dealers, the miners will go to the dealers and buy them back at much higher prices and just bury them in the ground. During the recent high demand for black opal, some big miners have tried to control the market in this manner.

Efforts have been made to establish values by committees such as the Lightning Ridge Opal Buyers Association. This only works to the extent that individual miners and dealers cooperate in the selling process. Unfortunately, because the opal industry is so fragmented, with everyone being in various stages of financial need, the temptation is always there to sell cheaply if the fuel has to be paid.

A lot more could be said about opal colors and patterns, but that subject is best left to experts in that field. Suffice it to say that there are patterns such as ‘straw’, ‘rolling flash’, ‘Chinese writing’, ‘pinfire’, etc. The most sought after and expensive pattern is called ‘Harlequin’. (Named after the squares on a clown’s costume.)


As far as I know, there are no schools you can attend to learn how to do this. That is, except the school of hard knocks. Let me say that if I’d have had this book in my hand back in 1970, I would have got to where I am today about 20 years ago, without loosing hundreds of thousands of dollars in the process.

It must be said though, that some folks are just not good at being an entrepreneur. They hate meeting people, and they hate selling. They don’t like the concept of selling, yet they fail to realize that if it had not been for high-pressure salespeople, hardly any of the modern day achievements would have been made. People had to be convinced to invest money in things by dynamic sales people.

If you are not this type of person, try to change, but if you cannot, it’s best to just hide yourself in your workshop and just get satisfaction out of your hobby. Who knows, if you give a few things away, you’ll be happier for it. (Remember the old true-ism, “there’s more happiness in giving than in receiving”)


Selling your stones

CH11

How to Become an Opal Merchant

The art of selling is a wonderful art to develop, and it can contribute to the good of a person, if it helps that person to feel better and enjoy life more. Selling things should not be confused with ‘conning’ people, or telling lies about things. Always tell the truth when selling. If you have a nice item to sell, and it’s well priced, you can be proud of it and you can be assured that those you sell to will recommend you to others, and you will be richer for the effort.

Let’s face it. Most things we ‘can’t do without’ in the Western world are not really necessary. For example, do we really need to have a garden around our house, or a tablecloth on the table? Not really, but many people have these things because it makes them and others feel better.

How about an opal ring? Is that really necessary? Of course not! But it’s such a beautiful thing, to be admired by all, and it makes everyone feel better, just looking at it! (Of course it may make some people envious that they haven’t got it, but we can’t help it if they have a problem with covetousness.)

Keeping the above in mind, if you really love the stone as I do, what more pleasant thing could there be than recommending it to others. The first time I laid my eyes on a piece of opal, I was totally fascinated by it. It was easy to turn it into a business because I instantly saw the potential in it. I had never seen anything before like it. Rubies may be red, sapphires can be blue, green, yellow, white, or parts of all these colors, but nothing could change between all these colors so vividly as an opal.


Someone told me it was unlucky, and it was for me. “Unlucky” that I didn’t’ buy 10 kilos of it back in 1972 at $500 per oz for high quality crystal. Who could have predicted that red on black opal would get to $1000 per carat? But this figure was achieved nearly 20 years ago. Since then, prices up to $12 000 per carat have been paid.

And no doubt, energetic salesmen such as the Shermans and Mark Tremonte who believed in the stone, and had endless battles with Japanese customs getting it into the country and promoted it in Japan and the US accomplished this. At this point in time (1996), because of the weakness of the Japanese economy, and the devastation of the earthquake in Kyoto near Osaka, the price has come back a little. This is typical of mining towns like Lightning Ridge. Boom and bust is the order of the day.

Still, at this point in time, the world still hardly knows about opal. The potential is nearly endless. . So “luck” as it’s often called largely depends on the effort and the initiative people put into things. If you go around trusting luck in life and not working hard for things, the adage might apply “what you believe, so you will receive.” Negativity breeds negativity.


Of course a lot of this depends on you. When I first started, a friend of mine offered me a parcel to sell on consignment. Now admittedly, consignment is a handy way to get started if someone trusts you, and you are short of money, but it’s always been my belief that you will never get a really good deal with consignment goods.

No one is going to give you the best price unless you come up with the cash. So I said to my friend: “Look, I’m sure I can sell those stones. Just give me the best deal possible, and I’ll buy them from you. I ended up closing the deal with him for around $600. ($200 discount)

Then I thought to myself: “Where am I going to sell them?”. I always think backwards. In hindsight, I should have asked that question before I bought them, but anyway, I had this warm feeling inside me that if I loved the things so much, there must be a lot more people out there like me.

No one told me at the time that Australians don’t know much about their own gemstone, and hence they don’t realize the value of it. They have succumbed to the “hard sell” of the De Bares organization and Marilyn Monroe who insisted that “Diamonds are a girls best friend” (In fact, up until recently, they hardly bought anything Australian, but they are learning)

Not knowing this, I proceeded to make a trip into the country with my wife. We re-priced all the stones, put a healthy profit on them, and called on all the Hotel Managers in every town for about 300 miles. At that


How do you Find Prospective Customers?

point I didn’t even have a business card. I just called into the pub, announced that I was an opal merchant, and asked if they would like to see my stock.

We sold nearly everything on that trip, and that was the start of Petren Products. (Peter and Renate Products) We started dealing in triplets and cheap jewelry, and I would sell Renate’s oil paintings from door to door. My sister Malvie was a great help. She was, and still is an excellent salesperson, and dragged us out of many a financial predicament, by holding jewelry parties and selling to anyone she would come in contact with.

From these early beginnings, I had to get a little more organized. We had business cards printed and I started making trips to capital cities, and calling on all jewelers that sold opal, mainly to the tourist market. Later, in 1977, we opened up a retail store called ‘The Opal Miners Hut’. My sister Malvie, her son Peter, and Nick Kustic (a faithful employee), now own and still run that shop which is a landmark in the Southern Gold Coast (Tweed Heads) area.

In the past few years, I have traveled with opal to a number of countries including: China, England, Europe, Holland, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Japan, New Zealand, Taiwan, U.S.A, etc. I have displayed at the world famous Tucson, Arizona Gem Show. Other gem shows have been at the Hyatt Hotel, Tokyo, for the internationally known Mineral and Fossil Show, as well as shows in Hong Kong and other parts of Tokyo.

Presently I am concentrating on wholesale and export, and the Opal Miners Hut is now listed on the Internet at: http://www.opalmine.com. Shortly, after this material is complete, I will be making it available on the Internet, along with some rough opal for practice.


http://www.opalmine.com


But where and how can You sell opals? The answer is, practically anywhere, but first I will tell you how I would go about it today, and then I’ll give you some examples of how others have done it.


The answer is, practically anywhere, but first I will tell you how I would go about it today, and then I’ll give you some examples of how others have done it.

1. Get some business cards printed. Nothing too extravagant looking. Just plain cards stating your name, address, phone and fax contacts if you have a fax, and of course, now, E-mail.

2. These new gadgets are very handy for international dealing, so if you don’t have a fax, try to get someone on side who will take messages. It’s difficult ringing someone up on the other side of the world if it’s 3am, and letters are too slow, but a fax can be picked up the next morning.) Even better than a fax is e-mail because it is very cheap.

3. Then you can create your own web page. E-mail me if you want some help with this ([email protected]) so it is a good idea to become at least computer literate, although not absolutely necessary.

4. Procure a telephone book (yellow or pink pages) for your major business areas, and find the section that says ‘Jewelers’,’ Jewels wholesale ‘,’ Lapadarists, Manufacturing Jewelers’ or ‘Jewelry Designers’ for a start. You can develop this further into the antique jewelry sites and numerous other businesses. Make a few phone calls to these businesses and ask to speak to the manager or jewelry buyer.

5. Another method, (which I personally prefer) is to just walk from one jewelry store to another, particularly in the high rise offices. (Many manufacturing jewelers are all together in one skyscraper, such as in Hill St., LA, California, USA or 250 Pit St., Sydney, Australia)


But where and how can You sell opals?

mailto:[email protected]

mailto:[email protected]

6. Using this method, you don’t go necessarily expecting to make a sale (although it sometimes surprises you). You merely apologize for coming uninvited and ask them if you can exchange business cards with the store buyer, if possible, saying a quick hello to the buyer. This way, you are accomplishing three very important sales assignments:

a) You show that you’re a polite, considerate person who takes into consideration peoples circumstances. Have consideration for people who own shops. Having been a shopkeeper myself, I know what it’s like to have to pay the weekly rent and wages and have no one come into the shop but enthusiastic and often, ill mannered sales people.

b) You have at least shown your face, if not your stock, which means that you are no longer a complete stranger.

c) You know the name and phone number, if not the face of the person in charge of buying, so that when you either call in or make an appointment, you can say, “Can I speak to Mr ******, or ******?” Or whatever term you might use, depending on your first conversation with this person.

d) In ringing for an appointment, you might say something like: “Hello, sorry to interrupt your busy day. My name is ******, I left my business card with Mr/Mrs ****** about three weeks ago, and if possible, would like to make an appointment to show him/her my opal stock. Is that convenient?”


Most successful business people are polite and considerate, that’s how they became successful, unless they were born with money, or are dishonest, Just forget those who are ignorant. Life is too short to be burdened by ill-natured people.

There are plenty of nice people out there to concentrate on. In making appointments, try to keep all your calls in one area, and make appointments according to some sort of program, otherwise you’ll find yourself running all over the city wasting money on taxies and getting nowhere. Of course this is not always possible if you have a good customer who just can’t fit in with your program.

Be sure to be on time for appointments. This can be difficult particularly if you are getting on well with a customer and you get chatting or other customers turn up and you have to wait. If you allow an hour between each appointment, this gives you a little leeway.

Don’t try to accomplish too much at once. A mobile phone is handy for this because, if you are running a little late, you can call your next appointment and ask if you can put the appointment off for a little while. Often this fits in with your customer anyway.

Whatever you do, don’t be offended or insulted by any criticism of stock or accusations that you are too hard to deal with. Always be good-natured and if possible have a little joke with them. (If they’re the types that can’t take a joke, be careful of this.)


On the subject of stock criticism. Many buyers use this method to get your stock at a cheap price. They will tell you that they think you are too expensive and that someone also came into the office recently and offered them stock at half the price.

What they say may or may not be true, but never be unnerved by this. You might just say, “Well, you certainly did well on that deal. I wish I could have bought it at that price. Anyway, (as you start packing up your stock) “thanks for having a look at my stones. Maybe I’ll have something more suitable next time.” This is a good test about their genuineness. If they are telling untruths, and really want your stock, you will find they will change the subject and ask to see your stones again.....Just in case they’ve missed something.

It’s all a game - this selling business. Opal selling can be the most interesting of the games. After you get the hang of wheeling and dealing, it is exciting and profitable, and you can make many business friends. Of course as you start out, you won’t know the answers to everything about the trade, but who cares? No one likes a big head that knows everything! At least if you’ve read this book properly, you’ll know a heck of a lot more about opals than the average jeweler. And if you don’t know something, don’t waffle on, just say “I don’t know”. People respect honesty.

Like many professionals, some jewelers are embarrassed if they don’t know something. They like

to think they know everything about stones and sometimes they make some big mistakes about opal, rather than admitting that

they are not sure. In one way you can’t blame them for being this way because it is their job to advise clients on jewelry investments

and they have to maintain a certain public credibility.


One jeweler recently told one of my customers that the stone I had sold her was not a solid opal, but a doublet. (He came to this conclusion because there was a straight line along the edge of the stone that looked as though something had been ‘stuck’ on the back.) He could be forgiven for not recognizing this, as only trained opal cutters are experienced with this detail.

If he had really known his opal he would have immediately recognized it as a boulder opal with color on the front and natural brown ironstone back. Sometimes the natural line that joins the opal to the ironstone is very straight and can be mistaken for a doublet. But if he had looked under the magnifying glass, he would have picked it up. Unfortunately, all he did was make a fool of himself and nearly give my customer, who trusts me implicitly, a heart attack.

Regrettably this is a problem that will not go away easily with opals, as there are not enough of them in the world for all jewelers to get to know. Unlike diamonds, which all look pretty much the same except for slight variations in color, clarity and inclusions are all different. Keeping this in mind, it’s always good to inform a customer (particularly a retail customer) of this ignorance, in case a jeweler disappoints them.

Another thing to keep in mind along the same line is that some jewelers are a little peeved that you did not buy the stone from them, and develop the ‘sour grape’ syndrome, particularly if you have been a faithful customer of theirs for many years. This happened to me in Germany when I sold some beautiful opal triplets at wholesale to a friend that I stayed with. She took the stones along to the family jeweler, who valued them at a fraction of the wholesale price. You can imagine how we all felt after that.


Taking the above into consideration, if you are doing any retail selling (and this is quite a good idea if you try my method of just calling on business people who are not jewelers), it’s a good idea to develop a close relationship with a jeweler who knows about opal. (Or if he does not, lend him this book and teach him.) By doing this you can arrange to have this jeweler do all your setting work at a trade price, and if you are selling retail, double your money on your investment.


Other MethodsSome dealers have built up a business by buying a parcel of opal at wholesale and put on a small opal show in their hometown. An advertisement in the paper could state: “Opal dealer just returned from Australia. New stock of selected gems to be sold direct to the public”. Depending on the security situation in your town, it may be necessary to hire some security guards. If you are worried about this, you may want to just show a phone number and ask for a reference from a local businessman if there is some reason for concern.

Then there are markets, swap meets, and your own retail store. The problem with markets is always correct lighting. If the sun is shining, that’s fine, but it can be too hot. If it’s cloudy, the color of the stone will not come out as well. But I guess you can compromised between and umbrella and the sun.

Setting up a shop is a different ball game, and unless you’re experienced you’d better stick to just wholesaling and selling direct to the public by some sort of party plan or letting your friends know what you are doing. Many would prefer to buy gifts from you than from a retail store. And now of course, there is the Internet. This is the ultimate selling tool for the little home based business. You have your store right on your desktop. If you decide to go this way, get in touch by e-mail and we will try to give you some guidelines. The reason I have been so successful in this area is because of my credibility.


You will notice on the www.opalmine.com page, that there is a whole page devoted to comments from my customers. These are actual e-mails from real people who have agreed to communicate with you if you want to inquire. On top of that I have a visitors book full of signatures of customers I have dealt with over a 20-year period. Nearly 8000 in all. This sort of credibility is not easy to come by, but you have to start somewhere and if you can begin to build your own file of happy customers, it won’t be long before people will be happy to deal with you.Reportedly, many have had good results using this method, but of course you have to try these things out, and there is no reason why it will not pay off. One thing good about dealing in opal internationally is that it is just a tiny thing to carry. Tens of thousands of dollars worth of it can be put in your pocket. Just try dealing in $10, 000 worth of chairs, tables or antique vases. Then you really know what trouble is!

SecurityWhen you are walking around in the big city, it’s best not to look too much like a “well to do businessman”. You can be neat and tidy, but there’s no need to take along a slick looking briefcase. It may give a better impression to the shop owners, but it could also get you into a lot of trouble. Just carry a modest carry bag that looks as though you are just going shopping, and keep a few docket books and necessities in that, in case it gets stolen. Keep your stock in the inside pocket of your jacket or somewhere else out of sight.

Always carry a few dollars in an old wallet in your back pocket in case you are mugged, and keep all your important documents including credit cards and large amounts of money in a wallet hanging around your neck inside your shirt. The few dollars in the old wallet should keep the mugger happy, and you’ll be at least happy that you still have the important things intact.




Preparation of StockFig.114 Some opal d e a l e r s g o overboard in the p r e s e n t a t i o n o f stock. They buy all sorts of fancy boxes and special tags and t h i n g s t h a t m a ke displays bulky. This is not necessary. In fact, it is my experience that the less elaborate the display, the more professional you appear. Buyers like to think that they are getting stones from as close to the miner as possible and the more you look like a rep, the more they think you have loaded your prices.

All you need is nice clean plastic gem bags. (The ones with the tops that seal.) Get good quality ones that don’t wear too quickly. You must change the bags on regular occasions if they are becoming too tattered and scratched. Use plain white rectangle stickers available from the stationary stores and stick these at the corner of the bag. (About 20mm by 15mm is a good size.)

You can put the carat weight of the stone on the sticker. (If you are weighing it.) It’s also a good idea to have a bag number, so you can make a list in a notebook and mark them off as they sell. Also, if you leave anything on consignment, you can number what you have left and keep a record of it.


Figure 114

1. You may want to discount the stone sometime during the day if you want to clear some stock.

2. You may have a bag of stones to sell for a set price, and someone has just bought a few stones out of the bag. This may have an effect on the original price. Having it in pencil means that you can adjust it without changing the whole sticker or bag.

Speaking of parcels of opal, you may have ten stones for a certain price. Some good, some not so good. A buyer may want some of the stones, but not all. Here are a couple of good selling techniques if this happens:

1. Tell him that if he takes the lot, you can offer a special discount. Then work out how much it would be if he just buys the stones he likes at the full price. Often the price is not that different, and buyers will opt for buying the lot.

2. Tell him that you cannot pick the best stones out of the parcel unless he pays a premium, perhaps an extra 10% to 50% on top of the original price. Or, if you want to be more genial, put two prices on the label. One for picking and one if the lot is taken.

3. Tell him that he doesn’t have to take the lot, but if you pour the stones out on the table, he must take them as they come, without picking.


PS. Since the writing of this CD I have spend a lot of time scanning in my full collection of picture stones gathered over the last 35 years. Most of these stones, apart from four, “Pair of Sheep”, the “Prawn” or “Lobster” the “Flying Kangaroo” and the “Praying Mantis”, have never been seen by the public before. These four Picture stones were first published on pages 6 & 7 of Len Cram’s famous book.

“Beautiful Yowah” but since have been republished on pages 92,93 in his latest (as at Ja nu a r y 1 9 9 9 ) a n d m o s t exquisite book “A Journey with colour”

Hope you enjoy seeing them in this book!

Peter Brusaschi


Additional Information

CH12

Figure 115


Reptiles, Birds, Insects

1. “The Swan”

2. “Nippers”

3. “Snake”

4. “Peacock tail”

5. “Bob Tail Goanna” 6. “Prawn”

7. “Pea Hen”

9. “The Duckling”8. “Praying Mantus”

10. “The Vulture”


Trees and Sky

1. “Tree in the Valley” 2. “Mangroves”

3. “Lights in the Forest”

4. “Quarter Moon”


Unusual Patterns

1. Split Face Boulder

5. “Stained Glass”

2. Banded Boulder 3. Yowah nut matrix

4. Yowah formations 6. Split Face Boulder

7. Yowah Matrix 8. “Renate’” 9. “Peter” 10.”Caped Lady”


Unusual Patterns

1.Karoit Matrix 2a. “Slipper” (plan)

2b. “Slipper” (side)

3. Rainbow drop

4. boulder swirl 5. The “Groper”6. “Yo” (“again” in

Chinese)


Unusual Patterns

1. Crystal Split Face

2. “Green Fire”

3. “Australia”

4. Koroit Matrix

5. Rabbit

6. Koroit Matrix 7. Winton Striped boulder


Crystal Opals

Figure 7

Figure 9

Figure 8


Yowah “Nuts”

Figure 01 Figure 02

Figure 03 Figure 04

Figure 05 Figure 06


Crystal Opals

Figure 1

Figure 3

Figure 2

Figure 4

Figure 6Figure 5


Boulder Opals

Figure 6

Figure 8

Figure 7

Figure 9

Figure 11Figure 10


Boulder Opals

Figure 13

Figure 15

Figure 14

Figure 16

Figure 17 Figure 18


Abstracts

Abstract 1

Abstract 3

Abstract 2

Abstract 4


Black Opals

Figure 1

Figure 3

Figure 2

Figure 4

Figure 9


Black Opals

Figure 5

Figure 7

Figure 6

Figure 8

Figure 10


Boulder Opals

Figure 1

Figure 3

Figure 2

Figure 4

Figure 5


Boulder Opals

Figure 6

Figure 8

Figure 7

Figure 9

Figure 11Figure 10


Boulder Opals

Figure 13

Figure 15

Figure 14

Figure 16

Figure 17 Figure 18


Crystal Opals

Figure 1

Figure 3

Figure 2

Figure 4

Figure 6Figure 5


Crystal Opals

Figure 7

Figure 9

Figure 8

Documents

Opal Mining CH & Fossicking 5Jackhammer: Fig.68 (below right) A vibrating Chisel-like instrument, driven either by electricity or an air compressor, that replaces the old hand pick,