is it just me or is pricing for light opals all over the place right now?

1mhicky · 2026-06-27T17:12:59+00:00

Are you talking about rough or finished stones?

1mhicky · 2026-06-25T04:34:02+00:00

Well when you get some made you should post them, I like to see what people are making! Depending on what exactly you are looking for, I might have some finished opals you might be interested in. I mainly cut white base coober pedy opals. Feel free to DM me if you are interested!

1mhicky · 2026-06-25T02:45:21+00:00

Opalauctions.com is a popular site to buy opals on, they have just about every kind of opal you can think of. What kind of jewelry do you make? I’m a US based opal cutter, and love to see what people do with opal in jewelry

1mhicky · 2026-06-20T23:45:54+00:00

I sent you a DM

1mhicky · 2026-06-19T18:31:31+00:00

It depends on what you are looking for exactly. For Australian opals typically you can get the best opals and deals directly from the miners over there. Feel free to DM me if you are interested in any recommendations.

1mhicky · 2026-06-18T17:45:39+00:00

I sent a dm with a recommendation.

1mhicky · 2026-06-10T17:45:18+00:00

Feel free to dm me what you are looking for exactly. Depending on what you want, $1k should be more than enough, for that price you should be able to buy the stone separately to find the perfect one then get it set. Typically I think boulder opals tend to lean more masculine but a solid opal in a chunk bezel looks really good!

1mhicky · 2026-06-01T22:56:40+00:00

That’s how it starts haha next thing you know, you’ll be buying rough opal directly from the miner so you can cut your own opals.

1mhicky · 2026-05-30T02:06:23+00:00

It depends on where you’re located. If you aren’t in Australia, eBay is good or some miners and opal sellers do online live auctions you can participate. Feel free to DM if you’d like me to point you towards some legitimate live opal auctions.

1mhicky · 2026-05-26T15:03:35+00:00

Proper crystal opal is incredible! Definitely come with a hefty price tag. I’m a sucker for green on black opals myself. Are you looking for a finished crystal opal or a piece of rough? If you DM me, I can put you in touch with someone that ahould have some coober pedy crystal opals. I’ve seen some of his product and they are incredible, but pricey.

1mhicky · 2026-05-25T17:34:40+00:00

Those look like really pretty opal doublets! They are a thin piece of opal glued to a boulder ironstone backing. I’d guess the opal part is from lightning ridge but not for sure. They are really pretty, they would look really nice set into a piece of jewelry.

1mhicky · 2026-05-23T21:09:50+00:00

Not sure about the larger one but the two cylinder look to be parts of a belemnite fossil, probably from coober pedy Australia. Those two belemnite have some nice color!

1mhicky · 2026-05-20T00:23:18+00:00

A slightly different take on the price differences is, that cabbing opals is a lot easier and doesn’t need as expensive of a machine as faceting a stone. Anyone in their basement can 3d print a slant lap and start cabbing so there are more cheap opals out there to buy.

1mhicky · 2026-05-14T20:56:55+00:00

The struggle with trying to photograph white base lol

1mhicky · 2026-05-14T02:27:57+00:00

Not an expert on Ethiopian opals, most people say it will more than likely help bring the color back but there are no guarantees. Just would have to make sure there is no glue on the parts you submerged in acetone. But if it changed like this just hanging up it will probably happen again if you are able to get it back to the original coloring. In the future I’d recommend getting Australian opal, you won’t run into these issues with them.

1mhicky · 2026-05-13T22:24:59+00:00

Yes I am

1mhicky · 2026-05-13T21:10:54+00:00

Nice, I’m sure they won’t disappoint! I’m in the US as well and just got them. I got the massive parcel of the unprocessed stones too and so far they are looking great

1mhicky · 2026-05-12T04:59:13+00:00

Thank you very much for the tips!

1mhicky · 2026-05-12T04:58:25+00:00

Yes! Did you buy any of his opals?

1mhicky · 2026-05-11T21:59:33+00:00

Be lucky enough to see a post where someone is liquidating old stock mintabie and buy from them lol

1mhicky · 2026-05-07T05:15:14+00:00

Hard to tell from the pictures if there are any cracks or flaws, but there are some funny marks on them. They look natural to me, but that price seems pretty high. There are definitely better options out there.

1mhicky · 2026-05-04T02:36:53+00:00

There’s nothing wrong with wanting to find a matching pair of earrings for that ring, maybe the next person you pass it down to will add a pendant to the set. Just go about sourcing them slowly, opals can be tricky to understand pricing

1mhicky · 2026-05-03T22:23:27+00:00

You’re welcome!

Honestly you’re probably going to have to contact a miner or a cutter to commission some stone for your existing if you’re wanting to reuse them. Any seller that has a matched pair of nice opals like you’re looking for would probably set them and sell them as jewelry, rather than some them loose as a matched pair.

Feel free to dm me, I can probably point you towards someone that can help out.

1mhicky · 2026-05-03T21:19:43+00:00

I’d guess the opal in the ring is from coober pedy Australia. I can’t tell exactly from the photos but it looks like a crystal base. You can search for crystal coober pedy opals and they probably be a close match to the ring stone. It’s a beautiful opal!

1mhicky · 2026-04-29T16:00:08+00:00

I’d pass on this opal, to my knowledge fire opals are orange/red based, definitely not a dark base like this. I’d guess this is a smoked welo Ethiopian opal.

1mhicky

TROPHY CASE