opal in wood - Virgin Valley of Nevada

This combines two of my favorites. Wood and Opal. The colors in the Opal are stunning. The wood is a nice contrast.

The opalized wood from Virgin Valley can be stunning, especially the Conch  Conk wood.  Beautiful pieces.  Thanks for sharing them.

Nice to see that material used in jewelry. Do you know the origin of the name? You write it as "conch" wood but I more often see it called "conk" as well. I know that "conch" is pronounced "conk," but which name came first for this wood? And more importantly, why? I see nothing conch-like about it. I'll bet there's an interesting back story.

hummingbirdstones, thanks for the video. My comment wasn't meant as a correction. I hadn't bothered to check what a conk is. Thanks for the explanation. Somehow I had an image of a conch shell in my head and couldn't figure out the connection. FYI you can find Google images of the wood under both spellings.

My rockhounding buddy from Mariposa is a Virgin Valley addict. About ten years ago he bought an unsearched scoop from one of the mines and was rewarded with a bunch of big crystal opal limb casts that were full of fire. Largest must have weighed more than a pound. Incredible finds that made my jaw drop when I saw them. Never saw anything like that before except in books. One was even a little branchlet that was solidly replaced in crystal fire opal. I posted pics here at the time of the find but damn fuggin crooked ass photobucket took all my photos hostage.....Mel

You are absolutely correct. Lots of it does crack, but even for those that do, there still can be great gems to be cabbed among the remaining shards. Some of the serious miners who aren't into bottling it up for specimens just spread the pieces out in the desert sun for a year or two before sorting it. On the other hand, holding a couple of hundred carats of perfect fireworks fresh out of the ground - well, it is difficult to want to risk seeing it craze.

I also understand that dried pieces shouldn't be soaked again, as that risks crazing, too. Brief exposure to water (as in cabbing) isn't the problem, but letting sit in a bowl of water (let alone an ultrasonic bath) is a big no-no. As I've learned from personal experience, crazing can happen to opal from other areas, too, including Australian.

Please do entertain us with more photos when you get a chance

Many years ago I spent a week researching VV opal for an article I planned to write. I visited the Rainbow Ridge Mine owned by Keith Hodson and spent nearly a week digging with him. At that mine the opal occurs in a wet, sticky montmorillonite clay, as I think much VV opal does. He showed me how opal that's newly removed from the clay begins to craze almost immediately when exposed to air and sunlight. He held a new opal up to my ear and I could hear the crackling sounds.

He explained that VV opal contains about 20% water when mined while opal considered stable has about 1% water. The crazing occurs from immediate dehydration and the opal's structural inability to adust to that rapid change. But opal that's screened from mining spoils that have been out of the ground for a year or two is often stable. Very gradual water loss while being left in the clay leaves some of the opal intact and cuttable. At his mine at least, most stable opal is found by screening the spoils.

That's on my bucket list to dig VV opal.  Hopefully we'll be able to get up there and do it one year before we get too old and decrepit. 

I went there in August and roasted in the heat, but no regrets. Hope to go back soon. We found a few nice small pieces with great fire and I found a spectacular flashy black opal the size of a walnut. I'm addicted now.