large Opal (Hefendehl Coll.) - significant Brazil locale piece

Item Description

Here we have a large, museum-sized, and display-quality Opal specimen from the Piaui State of Brazil, with a thin sheet of brilliantly colored Opal overlaying the quartzite matrix. Very little of this "boulder opal" from Brazil comes to market and it's unfortunate because of its quite colorful iridescent green and lavender colors, in this case. Initially when I saw these decades ago, I couldn't recall seeing any true boulder opal like this for sale from Brazil, but since then we have gotten some in several older collections and now have handled several (and there are also photos on MINDAT, and an Aussie friend confirmed that yes, some of these really did come out in this quality from Brazil - though not many, and few in quality.). Bottom line, this is not only big and beautiful but significant for the region. This is valued $4000-5000.