Knowing when we should cut an opal pair is a choice based on benefits in almost all instances.
Many people would say, “don’t cut beautiful colour away; it’s a waste of stunning colour made by nature.”
You would cut two opals to the same size for a pair because they are so rare. To match opal with the same colours, patterns, depths, body tones, and brightness is like winning the lottery. It is extremely rare. And because of this inherent rarity, the individual opals – which are now a pair have an increased value – sometimes by up to 50%.
I am about to cut the two stones pictured. They exhibit all of these characteristics. Same colour, pattern and body tone. It seems a waste to trim off good colour. HOWEVER, matching this calibre of opal is close to unheard of. I’ll show you the pair once they have been finished off – polished and matching perfectly. So whoever is the lucky buyer will have a matched pair perfect for a set of spectacular earrings, perhaps like these below.
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