Fire opal with color play... how much??

[Travelngal]

I'm curious how much / ct a nice deep vivid orange color fire opal with a lot of color play would cost. I found a cutter with gorgeous stones and he sent a picture of a stone that I am absolutely drooling over. It's uncut but wow... I can only imagine what the final thing will look like. the uncut stone is as big as a mans thumb so decent size.

 

[colorluvr]

3.49ct 11.64 x 9.24 x 6.92 - Incredible color (as nice a color as I've seen in vivid orangish/red) - well cut - $200

This is mine Not a good photo, but it does somewhat show the color, except that it is not this flat looking.

 

[Travelngal]

Very pretty.

Here's a picture during the cutting process. I still don't know how much it will be.

 

[colorluvr]

That definitely has a lot more color play than mine. I got mine because I wanted that intense lava orangish/red color, but it is pretty much one color (doesn't flash any yellow or orange) but it does glow like crazy in any lighting.

I'll be anxious to see what your finished stone looks like.

 

[Travelngal]

I definitely like the red stones better than orange.. but if that one has as much color play as it looks like I'd be happy with it.

Not mine yet... still waiting on price. No clue how much they go for. The others I bought were $18./ct. so the 12 ct stone was $216. the red was slightly more per ct but is only 1.8 cts... so not much.

 

[colorluvr]

I've seen red ones less expensive than mine, but with a nice cut, the color I was looking for and the size I wanted, I jumped on it.

 

[Lady_Disdain]

Is it Ethiopian?

 

[Travelngal]

It's mexican.

 

[Travelngal]

He sent me a video and all I can say is WOW never seen anything like it.

It turned out to be 11 cts.. still no idea of price. I asked but I'm afraid of the answer. It is stunning.

Here's a pic from the side.

 

[chrono]

I cannot make heads or tails of that last picture. It looks more like the back view rather than a side view. My guesstimate on the cost will be around $600 to $1000 depending on the colour play from the front view (which I cannot see) and how transparent it is, in addition to the body colour.

 

[Travelngal]

He sent me another video. I'll post that here once I get home.

 

[Travelngal]

video

Not the best quality video....
He has it set up as private so I used teh iphone to record from the computer screen.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RFa7vQurOGc

 

[chrono]

Perhaps it is the quality of the video but I can barely make out the colour play.

 

[T L]

From what I've seen, vivid orange fire opals (the best ones are Mexican), with a lot of color play are extremely rare, and valuable. The finest I have ever seen was at the Field Museum. This is a mediocre photo, the color was an extremely vivid orange (think traffic cone neon orange). I haven't seen one like it since, and I have been searching one out. While you can find fire opals with color play, the background color is usually lacking, or you can find great background color with no color play. Finding both in the same stone, to me, is rare.

The video and photo you provided are not very good quality, and it's difficult to discern the saturation of color, although I can see some minimal color play.

 

[T L]

Here's a Mexican fire opal with gorgeous neon orange color, but no color play.

 

[bobsiv]

I agree with TL, with one addition. There is a lot of Ethiopian 'jelly' opal that has vivid orange body color and very bright color play. However, most of that material is very unstable and will crack during the cutting process or when it absorbs water.

 

[Travelngal]

Here's a front view.

 

[T L]

I don't see the saturation of color that I've seen in vivid stones, but orange also is a tough color to properly photograph. Hopefully the seller has a good return policy so you can view it in person without too much risk.

 

[chrono]

The stone looks neither here nor there; colour isn't quite there and the colour play isn't quite there either. Still, if the price is right, might be worth taking a look at.

 

[bobsiv]

It looks like it may be contra-luz. I would check with the vendor so you know what you're getting. If it is contra-luz you may have a hard time getting the color play to show once it's set. That said, from my experience trying to photograph opals I think it looks like it will be a real stunner in person.

 

[Travelngal]

I agree about it being iffy. It is $700. 11 cts. There's another video that looks really good, it's still attached to the cutting stick thing, but it's so hard to tell from a picture and a video. I'm waiting to see how I like the stones I bought last week and then I'll decide on this one.

For kicks... here are some other opals he has for sale. The smaller stones here are in the 1ct-2ct range. Not sure about the bigger ones. At least he cuts them really well.



And back to the 11ct orange w/color play...
Here's the picture he sent, maybe I enlarged it up too much above making it look washed out? probably wishful thinking?