Jeweller - April 2022

OPINION
Soapbox
Dealing with the intricacies of opal dealing
You know that 95 per cent of opals come from Australia, right? Wrong! RENATA BERNARD
says that’s usually the first mistake when dealing with a customer in search of a quality opal.
Precious Australian opals are currently
in high demand. Their prices are rising
and the number of websites selling
opals is rapidly increasing. This is good
news. We should be celebrating!
Better still, you have a perfect customer
looking for a quality black opal with an
electric play of rainbow colours to be set
into a magnificent jewellery design. The
dollar signs are flashing.
So, what’s the catch? It is, as always, in
the detail. And the detail is in the unique
nature of this magnificent phenomenal
gemstone, its limited supplies and
resistance to systematisation.
If you are lucky, you have a trusted opal
dealer who sends you several options
for your customer. Are you on a winning
streak? Or are you taking your first steps
into the shifty dunes of uncertainty and
limited guarantees?
You have been in the industry long
enough to be able to tell a solid opal
from its composite counterpart. Using
a little droplet test, you can ascertain
the sedimentary nature of the opals you
are examining on behalf of your client.
Trusting the well-repeated statistic, there
is a 95 per cent chance that the precious
opal you are playing with is Australian,
right? Not really!
The mantra, “95 percent of precious opals
originate from Australia,” is repeated ad
nauseam by well-meaning Australian opal
aficionados, has not stood any test since
the 1980s, when it first gained popularity.
The customer insists that they need a N1
or N2 body tone. The stone has it, but the
backing is grey. Or ironstone. How do you
explain to them that the host rock has no
bearing on the N1 classification of the
gem, if they have been over-informed by
the well-meaning websites that advise
‘black is black’?
And then, the question of treatment and
structure arises. What guarantees can
you give to your customer that the faint
grey line in the opal is colour-less potch
and not gypsum or, god-forbid, webbing
that may threaten the long-term stability
of the gemstone?
This is before we get into the
conversation about the quality of cut and
craftsmanship, which more often than not
is done with soft resin diamond wheels
rather than using the traditional – and
superior – dry-sanding techniques. I say
“superior” because only dry opal will tell
you the story of its future.
What tools do you have at your disposal to
discuss the sources of value and quality?
Unfortunately, there is still very little. The
nomenclatures currently in circulation
insist that the notions of body tones,
gradation of colours and vaguely defined
patterns, are main determinants of the
precious opal’s value.
The truth is that, as is the case with all
other precious gemstones, an opal’s value
lies in its beauty, rarity and durability, not
in its darkness or lightness, or blackness
or whiteness.
You may have seen a green-blue, N-6 opal
superbly superior to a red N1 with barely
enough play of colour to speak of. Or, an
electrifyingly spectacular pinfire may steal
your heart in a flash, when placed next to
a charming broad-patterned ‘character’
stone.
To put it simply, a precious opal’s objective
beauty is directly proportional to the
overall brightness of its play-of-colour. It
is as simple as that.
Both, you and the client can see it. And,
this is what we should focus on and
measure, rather than the body tone. This
is what gives opal lovers goose bumps
and it’s what makes them fall in love with
an opal. Of course, the excitement of a
gemstone is also relational and depends
on the gem lover’s tastes, and – let’s face
The mantra,
“95 percent of
precious opals
originate from
Australia,” is
repeated ad
nauseam by
well-meaning
Australian opal
aficionados.
it – their wallet.
Yet, fundamentally, bright play of colour
is the one factor that makes an opal
irrevocably beautiful.
In judging durability and rarity of
Australian opals, nothing beats
experience and that comes from handling
thousands of varied gemstones and
dealing with the opal, gem and jewellery
industry at many levels, from the source,
manufacturing, all the way to the end
user - our retail clientele.
It comes from understanding what fine
design and quality craftsmanship is at
each level of an opal journey. It comes
from exploring different opal fields,
talking to miners, dealers and end users,
learning the old ways, whilst adopting
new technologies and directions in
design, on par with the best of the world.
I dare to add that our collective and
unique advantage is our localised opal
experience that goes hand-in-hand with
our industry qualifications that inspire
trust and respectability. GAA, GIA, Gem-A,
coupled with accreditations and coveted
memberships, including Australian NCJV
are crucial in validating the Australian
opal industry’s reputation and inspiring
our customer’s long-term satisfaction.
At the end of the day, what we want our
opal client to have is a guarantee - of
quality, value and expertise behind the
gemstone to be treasured for generations
to come.
That should be our ultimate goal in the
fine jewellery business. It should be a
guarantee supported by knowledge, and
a focus on the end-use, all of which must
be easily conveyed.
Name: Renata Bernard, PhD, GIA GG
Business: Opal Minded
Position: Creative Director
Location: Sydney, NSW
Years in the industry: 14
66 | April 2022