Opal Treasures from the old T-bone field

It’s been a very long time since I have had rough opal treasures from the old T-Bone Field in Lightning Ridge.

It sits behind the Coocoran Fields and is known for its incredible Witches Hat nobbys. Although this one isn’t quite a Witches Hat or a Nobby, it’s a little hybrid of its own. It has both a white cap and grey potch — I’ll have to decide whether to take off the potch and make a Crystal Opal or leave the potch to create a Dark or potentially a Black Opal.

T-Bone Opal Treasures

In the opal game, the idea is to cut out most of the inclusions to produce a nice clean gem. Even with a gem torch, inclusions around the color bar can easily be missed or hidden. Slowly I clean up the edges to get a better look at the color bar and the colors are looking amazing! I can tell now it’s not going to be a black opal — it’s looking more like a dark or crystal opal at this stage. The color bar is quite thick but it does begin to thin around on one side. In order to get a nice size dome, I can see where the gem is going to cut from.

Top Off Time

As I go in, the sand isn’t playing nice so far! There is some incredible color coming through but with sizable sand blobs. These 3 main sand spots will determine the gem’s outcome but we’ll be onto a real winner if the sand comes out. With these pesky sand spots thinning out my color bar, it means the potch is here to stay.

Gem Outcome

We finished with a lovely 4.56ct Dark Opal with an incredibly bright play of colors. Dabbled with bold Floral, Flagstone and Chaff patterns — a little winner in my books! You can find the finished gem here.