For you gem geeks

[jewelfreak]

Here is a link to a chat room I fell upon while browsing the net. The chat is over, but there is some interesting info about some finds made at the Tuscon show that a professor from a gemology school is chatting about with his students. They talk about a new kind of opal that just hit the market that is now selling very cheaply but is supposed to rise very high before the next Tuscon show, amongst some othet things. Maybe we all should try to locate some while the prices are so low??????? Hope this is of some interest to my fellow gem geeks.

SPAMSPAMSPAMSPAMSPAMSPAMSPAMSPAMwww.yourgemologist.com/ISGChatNotes/18Feb.html

[francesca]

Jewelfreak, there is a lot of that Ethiopian Opal on e-bay. What I've seen is an odd chocolate sort of shade. I have read before that it is exceedingly fragile and prone to crazing. Marvin, at gemshopping, showed some Brazillian opals the other night that were as fantastic as anything from Lightning Ridge. At a fraction of the price.


The end of the chat concerning JTV shenanigans is pretty much a direct quote of many of my own thoughts. Of course the other retailers are no angels, either. Shame on all of them. And PLEASE!!!! Give it a rest on the the friggin' tanzanite, already!!! You just know they are making out like bandits on that shiz! :' )

[jewelfreak]

Thanks for the info, Francesca. I hadn't heard anything about it until I fell upon that chat. Though it seemed like the proffessor wasn't concerned about crazing or it being fragile, but he said there had been no real research or testing done on it, that it had pretty much hit the market with little or no info. So who knows. The chat was from February anyway, so there is probably more info by now. The solor sounds gorgeous, though - at least to me.
Also, I only scanned part of the chat, so I didn't read anything they said about JTV except the part where they said it would be their next gemstone de jour. I will have to go read the rest.
Oh, as far as ebay, I wouldn't be too quick to judge what is offered there as a true representation of anything. Every stone I personally have seen offered on ebay has been inferior in some way, and I would never order a stone from there. Too often the sellers don't really know what they have, or at least don't know much about what they do have, and almost never put clear information with the item. The ones that do have quaity stones and are knowledgeable - well, the price will reflect that.