Boulder Opal

Item Description

This is a large, gracefully curving vein of multicolored boulder opal in the host rock, from the classic mines of Queensland. These are obtainable at shows, and in the natural history auctions you see run fro mtime to time by big auction houses. But most pieces are simply representative examples, pretty plates but without display quality as a specimen per se. This, for its curving form and the way the matrix is trimmed to display the vein so dramatically, is far more preferable to my own taste as a specimen than as a boulder of gem rough. I particularly like how the horizontal banding runs the length of the piece, and curves like a sinusoidal wave. Very elegant! I traded this at the show from an Aussie dealer who had $1650 on it, and I thought that cheap compared to what I usually see here in the States, where it seems this should be a $2500 specimen based on what I saw at Tucson. Mass on this is 328 grams