Buying rough opal parcels: what I take into consideration.
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- Опубліковано 21 жов 2024
- G’day everyone, I hope you’re all well! In this video I’ll be breaking down the opal market to explain what I take into consideration when I buy rough opal parcels. There’s a whole lot more in-depth to be said, but I tried to keep it light. Also I explain a bit about selling opal and what to consider. 🤪👍
theopalmills@gmail.com
Opalpatterns:
www.google.com...
Opal miners online sales:
Sandra Bermon opal miner online store : www.sweetopals... / @sandrabermonopalminer...
Carl and Olga Babic opal miner online store: www.absoluteop...
Black Lighters Facebook group online auctions: www.facebook.c...
Angel, Misfits Facebook sales: www.facebook.c...
Opal sellers online sales:
Justin Thomas, Black opal direct: blackopaldirec...
Robert Short, the opal shop: opalshop.com.au/
Riley Gunn aka NN Opals aka 53frogs: nnopals.com/
Very impressive and comprehensive video on a complex topic! It brought me back to my early days, except there weren't many people giving great guidance like you have done in this video.Thanks for your hard work! dp
Thanks Don, yes, it’s hard to find informative videos, on the topic, that don’t just focus on the high end material, or seem too unachievable. 🤪👍
Ive been thinking of doing some cutting just for fun... all by hand no equipment, im not rich, but im an artist and id love to just give it a try. Im not sure if its worth it tho. But i believe even a poor person can make a pretty opal...maby not i duno. Thankyou for sharing good opal people. Thats one of the biggest issues I have, fear of getting the scam stuff. The bad people in the business.
I hear ya! Cutting for fun, you can’t go wrong. It can certainly be done by hand, and cheaply, as long as you have a bit of time. Opalised skin shell is good for that, as there only requires a light tidy up. 🤪👍
Wow , there is so much more to it than I ever thought . There’s no substitute for experience 👍
That is extraordinarily true and is quite wise of you to see it . It's great to find* random people actually thinking instead of " feeling like..."
This might be the best video for beginners that I've seen on youtube. Great job.
Thanks for going through all these aspects of the opal business. I'm into opal for the hobby, not really expecting to win financially from it, but its still good to get a grasp of how stuff works. So far I am just pleasantly surprised of how nice and helpful everyone has been, including all those from your list that I've so far been in contact with (and now you added a few more pages/names to check). Thanks for sharing!
This is a great instructional video as you made it really easy to understand. I really enjoyed the business insights and the explanations through stories.
Very informative presentation. It is a whole new experience for me and I'm having a blast. It's nice to have someone who genuinely wants to help new people like me find our way through the all aspects of the opal world. Thank you for taking your time to share your knowledge.
I know just who you are talking about! Bad egg! On the other hand you're awesome mate! And I highly recommend the blacklighters, great action and awesome group
Many thanks for sharing your knowledge. I truly enjoy your channel.
You did a bloody good job mate! Thanks for your time.
Awesome episode Phil! You're a bloody legend mate!
Thanks for sharing all the wisdom Phil. (I bet this took extra time to put together, and it is appreciated)
Great info Phill and wisdom, every thing explained very well mate , great stuff
wow massive effort phil, thanks heaps for your effort here
Very informative. Thanks for putting this together.
great teacher Phil, this was informative, from miner to parcels..easy to understand thoughtfull lay-out. cheers!
Another great video Phil , as I said in my comments on the last video we gain a whole load of opal know-how simply from watching you and listening to your years of experience . Thanks for the insights and passing it all on . As always, all the best from Scotland mate.👍🙏
Thanks mate, that was really interesting and helpful for some of us newbies
thanks for sharing your expertise, even if it's just the tip of your knowledge. you & justin posting content on UA-cam is the total sum of my exposure.
✌️🐝➕
Cheers buddy The Opal Mills Rocks
Thank you. I’m new in the hobby and this information was super helpful, very informative. I suppose you don’t learn until you dive in, cautiously.
Thank you mills this was extreamly helpfull
First to give thumbs up 👍 and now to watch..
A interesting subject Phil.
Cheers Famo59 👍🍻🤓⛏
My goodness. So much knowledge.
Thanks for the video, enjoyed all the information.
Thanks, that was very helpful!
Great analysis.
I definitely needed this lesson thanks sir .I've wasted so much on pictures that were photos shop of rough opals parcel
Excellent informative video. Thanks so much.
So informative thanks heaps 👍
Thanks Phil I've been playing with opal for about 30-35 years as a hobby collector buying when I could afford it. I've been jacked and I've had some real scores. I'm working on a channel also and about to start sharing what my experience has been. I'll be starting beginner/medium cutter carver because of the lack of sales/evaluation for the cutting/purchase. I'm also a pretty good smith with 30 years production art experience with gold / silver. I hope it's ok to share your channel link from my page so my subscribers can check you and a few others out with more skills/experience. Valuation is my hardest part to learn. Thanks for all your content brother. Some day I'd like to make it over there and do a scratch and maybe mine a bit. I do what I do with opal because I fell in love with opal and the story of the people that mine it.
G’day mate, I’m subscribed, the more awareness of opal the better. 🤪👍
Great video Phil, tough topic to cover. Basically you can’t beat experience, and sometimes you have to get done to learn. Just do it in affordable stages. I’ve been lucky, I spent a lot of time getting to know people in the industry before investing, still don’t allows get it right, but hey neither does Justin, but he’s on a whole different playing field to me 😄. You did miss one great guy to buy from. Phil Mills, I’ve gotten some incredible stuff from him.
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Great video. Appreciate the info!
I want some of the fossil opals!! Not to cut as I collect but love learning!!! I have not seen those before! Is it best to keep opals in a jar with water? I will watch the ending again to see some options to look at but will also look around:) gorgeous items and thank you for explaining:)
G’day mate, the logic I’m under is that the weather/elements can “weather” the rough opal, as seen in “floaters”, which are rough opal that has been exposed to the surface and has cracked and crazed. Once the opal has been correctly cut, (free of chips, cracks and flaws, and then polished), there is no need to keep it in water. If a stone has a crack, then there is a microscopic gap with points of attachment, these can further split over time, as the stone expands and contracts with the daily hot/cold cycle, so keeping the rough in water eliminates that problem. 🤪👍
Gidaÿ, I love your videos ❤ thanks for your knowledge, just wondering how much those smaller jars are worth please
Some jars are a mix of prior parcels, some jars are as bought, no less than au$200
BRILLIANT VIDEO. Thanks T.O.M.
🤪👍
Great video, thanks. I can vouch for the folks at NNopals and 53frogs, great sellers.
@@DefinitelyNotBlackOpalDirect I'm pretty sure they aren't. NNopals and 53frogs have different tags and different material..... Could be but I doubt it. Making different handles on opal auctions takes an effort
Great vid!!
Great and very helpfull vid
I cut Ethiopian opals. They usually sell rough for about 40¢ US. Recently got 1000cts for $100 US +tax and shipping. They sell for about $10 per carat, on the low end. Chocolate opals start at $20 per carat and honeycomb opals hit $30 per carat, on the low end. Already cut over 50 stones. Cabs and freeform. Ethiopian opals are hydrophilic and turn completely clear when wet. Can't really let them dry out until their at least polished to 3000 grit, and you still might get cracks if they dry too quickly.
G’day mate, I have a piece of Ethiopian opal with an amazing full spectrum of bright colour, but I’m not game enough to cut it as I fear I will crack it. One day I’ll give it a go. 🤪👍
Gday mate good to see you
G’day Kayne 🤪👍
@@theopalmills this was a Stella video Phill. I think it this might be the first video that actually explains the basics of parcels , the pros the cons , with out the fluff.
It's true you really do have to be careful who you trust in the opal business 💯
Outstanding Mate!!! Reality-I'm Alive El Capitan!!!
Thank you .....you are a great teacher!!!! Thank you 😀😁😀😁😀😁😀😁😁😁😀😁😀😁😀😁😘😍😎😎😎😎😎bye for now!!! 😉🤗
Hey buddy... Do you sell parcels? I would like to buy and spend some significant money for a nice parcel of Australian opal... I've been buying Brazilian opal for a while....it's nice.. but everything is pure Crystal if you cut it too thin you have a problem you have I'll put it back on it making it a are you can lay it..??
G’day mate, my email is in the description, if you’d like to email me what you’re after, I’ll see what I can do. 🤪👍
Never buy opals from sellers that Dispatch from India. It's either fake opal, imitation opal or very bad quality Ethiopian opal. Actually never buy any gemstone online that comes out of India I got scammed so much times... Stick with Australian opals!
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I hate to hear this bc I just won a couple auctions from opalauctions and the shipper is from India. Thank you for the heads-up
Nice!
Wow look at all that color
The big ones you don't want to cut yet? Is there a specific reason why
G’day Rachel, yes, as I own it all, I’m in no hurry to mess up. I’m continually learning something new, so purchasing the material in todays prices allows me to afford material for the future, if that makes sense, so by the time I’m ready to decide how I will process it, (cut or carve or doublet/triplet or inlay), I’ll have the skills needed to do it correctly. I cringe, with the hindsight of all the opal parcels I didn’t buy, at what would have been very decent prices had I known what to have done with it, at one stage I only cut solid opal, no matrix/dblts/trplts/inlay, and knocked back/overlooked those parcels. Also, I have material in stock to take possible custom jobs that require certain criteria, ie size, shape, colour. 🤪👍
How does one present stones for sale as a new buyer / carver- skin polisher / seller?
As an outside party, how do I get an opal crab fossil verified as such? I have one , you can see it's little eye stocks and the definition in its claws and swimming legs
.. it is semi crystal with purple p.o.c.
17.3 CT. And intact as the whole crab. Not super bright though.
send phil a few good pictures and tell him to forward them to me cheers joe andamooka
G’day Corey, there’s a lady who specialises in this, Jenni Brammal, here’s a link www.australianopalcentre.com/the-australian-opal-centre-team As for presentation, I would find/make a display case, and with as much information as you can get, put together a booklet.
Is it better for a miner to rub/partial rub or sell as is in rough?
G’day mate, miners are usually the first to know how their opal behaves, and their buyers are also familiar, it’s when the miner believes the opal is better than the buyer believes it is, that partial rubbing back can remove doubts, and this may go in favour of either miner, or buyer. If a miner has access to a market for quality rubbed material where there’s everything on show and less risk, they may chase the higher dollar. Most buyers want to buy complete, rough parcels/pockets, that are usually graded, with maybe one or two partly rubbed pieces, because a lot of cutters want to process the material themselves. 🤪👍
Where do I fit in...the opalholic buyer cutter and too addicted to opal to bring myself to sell it? You need a hoarders section lmao 🤣😂🤣
Then you fit in where I fit in, I have a hard time parting with opal too. 🤣👍
Thank you for this informative video. I have connections overseas for opals (from Lightning Ridge) and other gemstones at great prices. Admittedly, I like buying rough opals to be cut and shaped. I do not like dublets or triplets. However, I do not have connections with any jewlers at reasonable costs, which would defeat the purpose for me to sell the jewelry. I do want to have the opals and other gemstones authenticated, appraised, and placed in settings. Does anyone have any wise suggestions? Thank you.
G’day Shawn, if you have a lapidary club in your area it might be worth a visit as they would have someone knowledgeable enough to at least point you in the right direction. 🤪👍
@theopalmills lapidary seems almost a lost art here, but I will check for lapidary clubs. Thanks. I will cut and polish the opals myself, but getting the ring mounts or pendant mount at an affordible (wholesale) cost has proven difficult. I have thought about making them myself, but I have never done that before.
You are probably a better cutter, and definitely a better silver smith... but I'm a scientist and I have some numbers to help:
I think your 20% yield is generous. My estimate is about 10% and that's just cut stone not considering its quality. In my case you get one good stone and a few off cuts you polish up because why not...
Next is parcel weight. It's not the weight, it's the density! Opal is a little over 2g/cm^3. Sand is around 16-17g/cm^3. That means if you are good at estimating the size of your parcel, you can compare that to it's weight and come up with a rough calculation of the sand content. Epic advantage!
Finally selling is hard! I've sold a few stones for a good price but I'm certainly not making a career out of it...
Oh and you need to be able to capitalise on stupidity... I've bought several parcels for 1$ and you should see the stones I've gotten from them!! The only reason I got them was because people couldn't recognise what they were looking at online... I think that heaps of ppl have been burned in the past and are wary of anything cheap...
Anyway, great video! I think I've found a new pattern. If this is true, I'll call it cherryblossom... I need to show a few people before I do that of course...
G’day Dr Fill, yes 10% yield maybe closer to start with, but later on, with the spectrum of the parcel selection from ‘potch and colour’, to, ‘skin to skin colour’, your average yield should get better. That said Riley raises a good point of boulder weight, as the majority ironstone weight changes the math. 🤪👍
@@theopalmills ironstone would definitely have a greater density. Calculating that won't be a problem. I've noted that boulder opal is generally cheaper material as well, and the amount of opal is much smaller. Think how much opal is in a painted lady
@@drfill9210 boulder rough has an abundance of ironstone, fishing through a rough parcel you’d be lucky to cut a 2-5% yield, fortunately for boulder opal it is priced only second to black opal.
Please show us how to do a collaborated stone with a dremel pretty p😊lese
G’day mate, I can do, when I get some time to, but meanwhile youtube.com/@carlynscolorfulcreations?si=-RpFyzXPr9iuoBLD does a pretty good job with a rotary tool. 🤪👍
Mate u r exposing some of the sellers of opals especially online. Majority of the sellers r cheaters. U r a true opal lover but bit warried about u because of ur truthful nature. Pls be safe and sound.
Thanks Surajit, I’m not trying to expose any sellers negatively, every industry has the less than desirables. The more professional sellers will know their product, I feel the more you know about opal, the more informed your decisions will be as you navigate your way around the market. 🤣👍
Do you sell parcels phil?
Not for a while, but as I find them, I try to make them available, usually when I’m in Andamooka, and on Facebook. 🤪👍
Dont by opal on line you get ripped
Best way get parcel go field cheapest way
International buyers don’t have the luxury of heading out to a field, there are good online sellers that won’t rip you off, I tried to sum up best I could in under an hour, an introductory on buying rough opal for those who are new/beginner, you clearly have way too much experience to be watching this one.
Yeh but who i trust
It’s hard as there are so many pop up sellers, if you’re able to head out to an opal town to make contacts is ideal. There’s not enough of the good stuff to go around and no real consistent suppliers due to the nature of opal and mining. Opal Auctions website is a more formal way of buying rough opal, Riley Gunn @53frogs, Facebook has The Blacklighters, Opal Empire. Being aware of what you are looking at, helps with spotting issues, keeping in mind size/scale, sand/potch, cracks, flaws, recognising cuttable rough, seeing the rough dry as well as wet, and most importantly a return policy. 🤪👍
@@theopalmills Thanks so much for the advice. You are very knowledgeable
Mate, why didn't you post this video earlier? It would have helped me in losing my money especially to dream opals lol. Seriously i mean it and pls reply. I ask u to help me previously but i dont know.......
And thanks once again for letting me remind of my fulishness
Unless I have the opal in front of me, there’s not a lot I can be sure of, always consider returning for a refund before grinding anything.
If you don't have the big money to buy big, you'll never get the good staff. And I mean 30k +
There’s plenty of “good stuff” where they didn’t spend $30K , watch Black Opal Direct and that will shoot your theory down lol
@@kaynef6637 yeah, be my guess and tell yourself that.
This video is aimed at those who need to ask but don’t know anyone to ask, entry level. Clearly there’s far more valuable parcels to be had but who starts there. 30k wouldn’t buy a decent stone let alone a parcel, 150k/oz could be called a small parcel. 🤪👍
@@theopalmills do you agree what Micky is saying ? That unless you spend over $30000 your opal will be no good .
@@micky7697 so Micky how many of these $30k parcels have you personally brought ?
60 min vids kind long
i am a miner, from a miners perspective selling rough opal generally if the miner has experience in valuing opal rough i will put what's called a asking price on the parcel which is rarely achieved, but also a bottom dollar this bottom dollar is rarely flexible, as a general rule of thumb, the range between asking price and bottom dollar is about 30 percent, however if a major breakdown o equipment occurs then the bottom dollar is a very sliding scale, literally up to 50 percent cheaper than the initial asking price. i am a buyer, i buy parcels through all ranges of grades i pay cash as in literally folding money, this allows more buying power, as the miner selling does not have to declare to relevant authorities, parcels can cost from $100.00 per troy ounce up to $60,000.00 per troy ounce, a general averaging on say cooberpedy opal parcels the average pricing is around $100,000.00 for decent grade material in the mid range, that being said individual stones that are more unique than normal often called king stones can fetch serious serious dollars, a typical parcel will often include the whole of the pocket dug out by the miner, a hypothetical parcel of say andamooka or coober will yield potch with no colour, potch with colour bar, potch with colour bars to actual opal, as a general rule of thumb the parcel is graded into 3, 5, 7 and even on occasion 10 bags, bag number 1 will contain the best of the parcel, whilst the last bag could well be only potch with little to no colour, a miner tends to sell whole parcel, this allows a income across the whole range of the parcel, classers are usually used for this, a top bag will often include king stones, the big juggle however is finding the medium average price per ounce across the whole parcel, so for example it does not matter so much if bag 1 is worth 10,000 per ounce, it greatly reduces to allow / offset against the lesser stone values in the remaining parcel, so end price could be say 2500 per ounce if one buys the whole parcel, very rarely will a miner split the parcel, and on occasions if they do, it will cost the buyer heavily. i am a supplier and retailer in rough opal, cut stones and finished product, i have over time a select market to supply, for new comers finding that market is the hardest thing to get a so called foot in the door, many mistakes will be made on the journey of opal buying and selling, these are learning curves that can cost a lot if one is in to much hurry, the best approach is slow and steady, and deal straight with the miners, in little time once you have proved yourself to the miner the miner will look after you better, this is a typical everyday scenario, people ring or email or inbox etc the miner, they all say we will buy regular and often from the miner so by that alone the miner is supposed to believe that person over and above the miners normal outlets, opals are rare and not found often, top grade material is even rarer, in my case the first question i ask from a potential buyer is what's you budget, the purpose of the question is solely to eliminate time wastage, it is no good showing, top grade material to a buyer whom is only wanting to spend 200 dollars, for those that actually answer the question as many wont as it seems to offend them, a good miner with plenty of stock will try to find a parcel that will be around your budget mark, more often than not the buyer will be happy with selected parcel, the second question i ask is are you a cutter, and then how long have you been cutting, as a good miner will try to match opal parcel your cutting skill level, the reason for this is simple if the buyer is honest and genuine then the miner will help where possible, the better the miner looks after you the more likely a repeat sale occurs and a ongoing relationship that stands the test of time will develop, and once your established as a genuine buyer then you will get that phone call or email re a breakdown where a miner needs quick money lol, and thats where you the buyer gets serious bargains. opal industry is brutal though, if like young phil you pay your dues in blood sweat and occasions tears then, the doors start opening and decent money can be made not only in mining directly but buying as well.
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Very informative video, thanks.