VALUABLE BLACK OPAL.

Hawera Star, Volume XLVIII, 13 December 1928, Page 9

VALUABLE BLACK OPAL.

WORTH FROM £3OOO TO £SOOO

The discovery of a perfect specimen of black opal on the Garwin opal field, near Walgett, New South Wales, will put- hope into the hearts of the miners who have lingered there. The new gem has been called “The Light of the World, 1 ’ and in the rough it weighs about lib., and is said to be worth anything from £3OOO to £SOOO.

Australia is now the only country in the world where the black opal is found and the gem is becomyjg scarcer each year. The Romans of old procured their opals, including the black variety, from Austria, but the supply of black opal in that country has long been exhausted. There is a growing demand for opals of all kinds and according to an Australian expert the Americans are “Just crazy about them,” and when the rich Americans go crazy about any article the market is always worth following up. It is. probable that “The Light of the World” will soon find its way to America. Th© expert referred to has just returned from a- world tour and he expressed himself as follows:—“I made inquiries when 1 was in America some months ago, knowing that Australia, cannot consume all her opal output, and I found that the opal market was booming. Certainly Mr. Hakkis, president of the American Pearling Company, one of the biggest dealers in precious stones in the United States, said that- opals were a fashion, and not a staple, such a diamonds, and in New York another expert- said much the same tiling. But there is a strong demand for opals all the same.”

It is pointed out that an opal ring which, ten years ago, would have brought £5, would easily bring £2O today, so greatly have the prices of the gems risen. Hitherto the most notable opal discovery in Australia, was the famous “Flame Queen,” which was found on the Lightning Ridge- field in the same district as the present find. Tt weighed 253 carats. It was in 1923, when the opal supplies from the famous White Cliff fields were beginning to dwindle that two prospectors along the Upper Darling River struck opal at Lightning Ridge, in the Walgott district. This type was distinguished by the black bodyground in which' the colours gleamed. The bodyground of a normal opal is colourless and irplky. For some- years the new variety was difficult to market, specimens fetching only £1 or £2 an ounce 'at a time when the White Cliffs'"product was selling at prices up to £SO an ounce. In a very- few years, however. Lightning Ridge was yielding two-thirds of the Australian output, and in .1914 fully 80 per cent, of it. White Cliffs, meanwhile, had practically been abandoned. The White Cliffs opal field was discovered in 1889 by a kangaroo limiter who. picked 1 up a brilliant piece of opal lying on the surface. The -neighbourhood was at once prospected and a Tush set- in. In a remote p°>'t of Western New South Wales White Cliffs is- noted for its lient. and "as noted for the. “seam opal.” besides opalised shells. fossil bonea. and bunches of crystal which the miners caPed nine armies. The instraliap onal fields are verv limited.