We recently had the pleasure of finishing of a beautiful parcel of rough black opal. Interestingly, this parcel was nearly going to be used as inlay material for sculpture work, as the owner did not think there was much colour in the pieces initially.
Luckily, they second-guessed themselves, and rubbed the rough to see some colour appear! They brought the rough in to us to finish off, and here is the progress of some truly outstanding material.
Firstly, here’s the rough parcel, slightly rubbed. You can see the potential in the colours and patterns emerging. See that large freeform piece down the bottom? The red floral/pinfire on the right hand side was going to be dismissed. Luckily, it was saved.
Now we have the pieces, separated and roughly cut into their shapes. This is going to be fun!
That large red freeform piece is really coming to life now.
And now we have the finished products. What beauties! And to think they weren’t going to be cut! Just goes to show that real treasure can be hidden under the thinnest of layers.
And that large red freeform? That ended up at just under 7 carats, with a retail value somewhere in the mid-five figures.
Not bad at all.
