Gemstone Videos

Thanks for going to all that effort rockpickerforever . It's very helpful. I'm an "old school" opal cutter who began in the days when all that counted was how bright and beautiful the top of the stone was. No one cared if there was sand on the bottom unless the stone was destined for an open-back setting. No one cared much about naming patterns either except some of the obvious ones like Pinfire, Broadflash, Harlequin, Mackerel Sky etc.

Now the art of creating descriptions for opal color play patterns seems to have evolved into something of an art form. Some remind me a little of the hype for wine flavors i.e., "Smooth finish with a subtle after taste of garlic and elderberries, and hints of tangy rhubarb, hickory smoke, government-maintained outhouses and mothballs."

But when in Rome, especially if one intends to tempt those who value such descriptions. Some are valid IMO but others seem a bit much me, especially when several names are generated for the same pattern. It can be downright confusing, just like trade names for stones.

I did more research on the comments about that stone from Aussie dealers and Ribbon pattrn seemed to be the one most agree on. I’ll stick with that for the time-being.