Buying Opal for the First Time

[@cheekyj4794]

Love the vid, it was nice to see from the bottom up. Although the shows like Justin and Pulizer have the real flashy stones, I'll never have one like that (unless I'm really lucky). But seeing you show that I've been doing it (roughly) the right way, and getting the prices right has re-inforced my confidence, so I thank you. P.S keep making vids, there good.

[@ShinySearcherUK]

I'm going to be doing quiet a few more types of these videos, maybe a little series on "getting in to opal" what to look for when buying etc. The good opal is nice but its very rare ypu start there unless your out there mining and get lucky.

[@cheekyj4794]

@@ShinySearcherUK It's a place I would love to visit, and have a rummage round the public debris dumps. You can find some really good ones, but yeah there rare.

[@Sasvad]

loved it

[@zxt6788]

Nah you can definitely get yourself a good opal, ive started like 4 months ago, now ive flipped like 3000 worth of opals and i have a few beauties myself, my first batch i paid like 200 from deceased estate on ebay, got like 600 grams of beautiful coober pedy, been slowly selling it and using the money to buy better opals and better roughs, ive currently got 2 parcels of 400 carats selling on ebay right now with amazing colours, just spend abit of time bidding on auctions on ebay and ul manage to get yourself some nice ones, also if you dont have sand paper or gear, you can use smooth concrete in your back porch, sounds wild, but if you find some decently smooth stuff, it can work just fine to shape some cheap stones you get 👍

[@sierrahjmartinez6703]

Sometimes when the pocth and opal are mixed up it can look nice. As long as you have decent amount of color. I think they can still.look beautiful when polished up

[@yannick7570]

Nice video ! I started to cut and polish opal as well ! Hello from france

[@ShinySearcherUK]

Hello there!

[@yannick7570]

@@ShinySearcherUK where are you from miss ?

[@ShinySearcherUK]

England :)

[@yannick7570]

@@ShinySearcherUK nice to meet .i am from french alpes

[@MikeyMikeHq]

Awesome video , good luck friend. I've just started . Please keep making videos !🌋

[@lukaszkarpinski8607]

Nice video. I got some parcels from Australia with similar stones. I would suggest before cutting check each stone with the strong light - it helps to find all the sand inclusions. Good video anyway. And yes you can get great bags and really bad once too.

[@mizzify]

If ypu want some honest parcels check out 53 frogs on opal auctions or nn opals on facebook. He's a dude and you always get a decent parcel from him-he charges a fair price and is honest. Seda opals and black opal direct are on the pricier side but have some gorgeous stock.

[@yannick7570]

@@mizzify thats right mate ! I buy a lot from them !

[@johnwest2511]

Great video. . Where do you sell your finished stones ?

[@thomasmuller7021]

Where do you sell your cut stones? Online, on markets or Juwelier? And how long does it usually take you to sell your stones? I'm thinking on getting into it. I adore these little beautys and I'd love spending my time to shape and expose them. But I don't know where to sell them afterwards.

[@ShinySearcherUK]

I do in person shows and direct contacts really. If your looking to maximize return on your cut stones your best to pair up with a jeweler in your area and work out a mutual partnership that way

[@dalerolando5371]

Thanks for the Excellent Video . But Biggest Question I have is Where is Your Market (where & who buy it ) ??

[@ShinySearcherUK]

Most are UK based but my nicer stones tend to either go back to Aus or the US

[@mizzify]

Whoa dudette where are you from? I have cab envy!!! I'm in colne lol I have a dremel and a pendant motor but started out with a $5 bag of scraps from josephines in coober pedy. No idea where (or who) you bought those parcels from but i pay less and get way more opal. My last parcel cost me $50 (aus) and i got a lot more. Unfortunately somewhere along the line got lost (usual story cleaned car out and probs in the landfill). I have no idea how to value opal at all but strongly suspect my mother is wearing about £500 worth.... fab to see another lass cutting opal up north! Keep those video's coming! I have loads of contacts and if you need some pointers feel free to shout me.

[@ShinySearcherUK]

Just shopping around mainly gets you a good deal, maybe go through some places and give my 2c on opal for sale? Personally I find the expensive stuff hard to move here in England, so although my bread and butter is sub £100 stones mainly, I sell quiet a few. It's easier to sell 10 x £50 stones than it is 1x£500 in my experience.

[@mizzify]

Over here people don't want to pay more than they can buy junk from china or india unfortunately and we can't compete with their prices. Love opal auctions though and had some decent parcels from them x

[@disbandedspark0308]

This is great I cut opal to

[@whaleshrimp111]

I have stopped buying rough opal due to the very low quality and high price. Most opal that has good possibilities is cut by the miner or the miner has chosen a cutter to do the work. I can understand this since the miners have the investment to recover it and should receive as much value as possible, Also there are some real crooked dealers of rough especially from Australia. Buying through the mail is a very dangerous hobby.

[@drfill9210]

There is a risk, but better than buying a lotto ticket

[@hateonskillz318]

Yeah unless its very exceptional stone and pattern u can make your money back. I buy here and there for inventory im making my own jewelry while cutting opal and have bought a few colored diamonds to make a few truly unique and colorful pieces of jewelry its more expensive and is more of a long term investment. Also the pieces woth sand I use a dremel tool with a metal brush tool head and lightly and slowly grind most of the sand away to reveal mostly opal and poch helps tremendously before you even grind anything away works nicely cause like you said some are covered in sand and with a metal brush dremel head will take most that sand off before any grinding takes place great video im a perfectionist andbits hard for me to make shapes with sandbor inclusions. I have to have like a high 90 inclusion free regardless of size shape or dome. The dob stick is so crucial for the end product and isn't taught in depth or studied but is a very important part but learning how to is important. Wad a very nice video people love watching but emsi[ the sides with big bright eyes when they to could cut carve and polish a rock from 100miloin years ago

[@blackscreen9399]

I´m from Brazil and getting into opal trading right now. Here we have amazing pieces and with a great resell profit margin. where do you advise me to put my pieces to sell?

[@KarmaSwiss]

id buy some! ig vincentvangooo

[@ShinySearcherUK]

I would love to buy some brazillian opal and cut it here. Drop me a message directly

[@DocLogic123]

Justin Thomas sells nothing but potch.. I called him out for it and he took all of his rough parcels down from his website bc finally someone called him out for ripping people off

[@V27RV]

Good work and great video

[@ShinySearcherUK]

Every day is a learning day :)

[@bakit3927]

Been wanting to start buying into opal, ive been very interested in this just want to add to my hobby list. Just curious who do you sell them to to make your money back?

[@ShinySearcherUK]

Yes I do sell. I am currently working on a website to lost all my nucer opals on. Currently I sell mainly through inperson shows and Facebook direct sales.

[@bakit3927]

👍nice.. what country are you in?

[@ShinySearcherUK]

@@bakit3927 the UK but I ship worldwide

[@bakit3927]

@@ShinySearcherUK good work.. im from australia. Want to make a trip to lightningridge opal fields sometime

[@Dklinge]

Hi ,I enjoy your vids Question, what did you use to slice that stone? I noticed it was a very thin kerf. Dremel? What type of blade ?

[@ShinySearcherUK]

I have a small 4 inch trim saw with 0.3mm blades on it. I use that for a lot of my small trimming. However I did use to use diamond coated cutting disks of ebay in my early days to trim opal up.

[@matecki26]

What is that polishing machine with 4 grit wheels called and where can you buy them?

[@ShinySearcherUK]

So I get all my round wheels from baltic abrasives. My flat laps from RichOnTools

[@ClashixTV]

where did u buy your opal? thanks :)

[@vandemanferretstasmania.ni9576]

Just a warning when your working with opal, WEAR SAFETY GLASSES. Especially when working with rough or paydirt, if you get any silica in your eyes, you can effectively ‘sandblast’ your corneas as you blink. Extremely painful. You don’t even realise how easy it is to do. Also wash your hands before touching your face, preferably wear latex gloves

[@nataliedahling1433]

They should be formulated on the 600 and 1000 lapidary wheels

[@TheArtisanTouch]

I had to find me a lady from lightening ridge who doesn’t deal with the punkic

[@X_WAS_HERE]

nice video I love opals this is good!

[@grant.0]

How much was this parcel? It looks quite good and I just wanted to know the price. (In CAD)

[@ShinySearcherUK]

Around $180 CAD

[@manatahan5]

Those for sale? How can I buy it from you?

[@ShinySearcherUK]

I am slowly listing them over on my etsy page 🥰 www.etsy.com/uk/shop/ShinySearcher

[@jasontjong1700]

Where would you recommend to buy my first opal? Scared of getting a fake since I'm new to the hobby. I want a small piece that is not raw but is already cut. I am in the US

[@ShinySearcherUK]

Facebook groups but stick with well established sellers to start of with. Opal auctions is good to dip ypur toes in especially some of the auction. I also have some cheap 100g practice parcels available

[@drfill9210]

Opal auctions- 53 frogs is a good safe bet.

[@TheArtisanTouch]

Looks like they got you too

[@TheArtisanTouch]

They leave a little trace on the potch an arrange it to where it looks like it has color but doesn’t. Opal auctions is the worst

[@ShinySearcherUK]

I have since sold all these stone and made more than I paid for them. I buy these parcels to show people there can be a little profit to be made. There not going to make millions but £20-£100 stones tend to be my bread and butter of selling

[@TheArtisanTouch]

@ that’s what your supposed to do. If you buy any parcels especially at auction there chips. If you buy single pieces or 2 I do good. I found some amazing stones but I’ve found a lot more extra curricular activities going on. Not intentionally either

[@ShinySearcherUK]

@TheArtisanTouch it really does depend from who and where you buy from. Most cheap parcels you buy 90% is going to be pretty useless. I tend to buy either rubs or small parcels of 3 or 4 pieces of rough. I buy these small parcels just because they make for good educational videos for those wanting to dip a toe. The opal market at the moment is wild and there is so much junk about I have only punched a hand full of parcels this year. Hopefully this give a bit of my opinion on what you should be paying for a parcel of this quality and what realistically you can expect in return. There are lots of live auction at the moment saying $60/ct cut then selling a 20ct stone for $100. If its to good to be true it is, no miner is going to sell you a $10,000 stone for $100 in the rough (which I see a scary amount of sellers saying)

[@richardtaihitu6157]

if possible, remove the remaining sand on the Opal as well.

[@clintoncollum838]

Right? I have never seen anyone buy opal cabs with sand all in them, unless the stone can be cut down and fixed.

[@ShinySearcherUK]

There quiet popular sellers for me for people who want colour/cheap beginner collectors piece or make pendants with air drying clay and wire wrapping. I only cut these if there really isn't anything else viable in a stone.

[@ajikalimaya]

❤️❤️❤️

[@thechristiancarpenter]

👍

[@ajikalimaya]

🔥

[@chrisoldfield9841]

I have a piece of Opal but nothing to cut it with 😂 you sound like your from stoke, are you?

[@ShinySearcherUK]

I'm from Derbyshire. Drop me a message on shiny searcher on Facebook if you'd like

[@chrisoldfield9841]

Sure, thank you

[@sodalines]

great video. Try and sell to the Americans they love opal, and pay crazy prices for the stuff...lol

[@drfill9210]

Checkerboard- mosaic-ish

[@radicalgames480]

were do u sell?

[@ShinySearcherUK]

Etsy or my website

[@bilalhassan3909]

Prise

[@rainbowgemtestinglab766]

we test opals

[@TheArtisanTouch]

And it’s jelly ooal

[@marksmith-bi1xr]

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...

[@ShinySearcherUK]

Plenty of well respected Australian sellers on places like Facebook. Any seller worth his salt will always offer a return and refund policy if you don't like the parcel.

[@nataliedahling1433]

They need to be placed in water because they are fragile

[@whiteowl8703]

Unless you buy directly from the minor before they rub it your going to get 💩

[@yohannesdessalegn559]

I have opal u need sell

[@jaysoncolbert6187]

Dont trust the Indian sellers, they are some shady characters on Etsy