Select a category of opal rough which suits your particular interests / needs at this time. We assure you that the descriptions are accurate and may be relied upon. It is even more difficult to accurately provide images of opal rough than of cut stones or jewelry. Some of the rough is imaged while wet to better show the color.
We are here to stay, and your ongoing business is essential to our survival.We do accept orders of any size ... so you may safely try a bit and see for yourself! There is never any extra charge for any order, however small, if all arrangements can be accomplished via email. Turquoise, Rhodochrosite, Lapis, Malachite - a few others, are roughs which make excellent complementary stones to Opal. They are also stones we are fond of and we offer a good selection of quality rough at fair prices.
It is our most important goal to encourage every lapidarist to explore opal. We offer no end of free advice via email should you encounter any problems cutting or setting opal.
Do understand that some practice is required ... even if you have cut every other gem under the sun. Opal rough is fairly soft, easily cracked (in many cases) and some has a fairly thin layer of fire ... it usually needs to be orientated to best show the fire. It comes in many varieties and crystal opal rough is especially unique. All of which means that you merely need practice, for the rewards can be astonishing! Do try!
We offer very inexpensive beginner opal rough so you need not waste money or be discouraged. The Beginners' section will soon have pages of helpful tips and guides. We want YOU to succeed.From each category you will go a page of small images ... CLICK ON ANY IMAGE for larger and more images. From there you may go BACK to the smaller image page.
Categories are by cost of the item, NOT by cost per ounce - i.e. the "under $25" now runs from a full ounce of low-grade for $9.95, to precious pieces of crystal opal, to white base pieces with Harlequin patterns ... take the time to check all the pages, it
varies that much, randomly!
Please remember that most of our opal rough is "rubbed". We do this so that you can pretty much see what you are buying and so that we can be pretty sure we are not sending junk to you. It also means that you are really buying a piece of rough much larger than the offering! There are MANY cases where the weight of the opal has been more than cut in half in order to trim away utter junk. That greatly affects what appears to be the cost per ounce! It does take a bit of the fun out, DOES take much of the risk out! Just keep it in mind, and do understand, we do it all for you! - at considerable expense to us.
Available opal rough has gone to pot. Much of what is sold now is mined from much too wetness and is highly likely to crack within a year after being dry, or cut. Good, proven rough is simply much more expensive now. We sell no rough which has not been kept dry for at least a year, by us, unless it is from a miner we know, from a mine which has been proven and conditions have not radically altered - if that is true, we sell it after it has been dry for 6 months in our possession.
All things considered, you are getting extremely good deals here - we have the reputation to prove it.
Available Opal Rough {Click on a category} ...
(other categories are being updated)
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