It appears that girls may have a new ‘best friend’, with a surge in popularity in opal engagement rings in recent months showing that young couples want something more unique than diamonds.
Opals Down Under Advertising and Internet Coordinator, Rhys Fox said that they had noticed quite a large swing in customer enquiries, with the majority of customers looking for opal engagement rings having them handmade.
“The younger generation are really getting into the whole unique appeal using opals in engagement rings,” he said.
“I think couples are wanting something different to diamonds, and every opal is unique with no one opal showing the same pattern and colour as another.
“And a good amount of these customers are actually having the rings hand-made for a completely one-off approach, which is fantastic.”
Australians have been one of the hardest markets to attract, as they know less about our national gemstone then the international customers do. However, what Opals Down Under have noticed is that a large number of opal engagement ring enquiries are made by young Australians.
Mr Fox did stress that those who are looking at opal engagement rings should do some research into the gemstone beforehand.
“We really do recommend that if customers want to use opals over diamonds in engagement rings (though diamonds are much stronger than opal) that they think about using Queensland Boulder Opals, as they are the strongest of all the opals, as well as providing a brilliant array of colour,” he said.
“Also, we highly endorse using a bezel or rub-over setting as opposed to a claw setting, for more protection for the stone, and a lower cabochon (domed surface) also helps for more protection.”
The Opals Down Under website provides information about the types of opal and recommendations on opal engagement rings, and it has been inundated with emails and a surge of hits in the last few months.
It looks as though the Opal is finally getting the attention it deserves. Please contact us if you would like more information.
