When faced with a whopping 137ct nobby opal, my eyes pour over the rough gem to visualize the multitude of possible outcomes.Where does the best color seem to be sitting?Is there a better pattern u...
Win, Lose or Draw — Welcome to the World of Opal! Even after decades of buying and cutting opal, I can still get it really wrong. But that is the risk you take when you work with Opal. The highs an...
Opal Nobby number 1 has the potential to cut a nice gem. It shows that rare red-blue color across the nobby, however, the sand is going to be an issue. SPOILER ALERT: If this one cuts well, there m...
Here we are, nobby opal number 5 or ‘broken nobby’ as we have nicknamed it! What we already know about nobby number 5. It is a broken-off piece, so we can clearly see the color bar inside. We can ...
The number 2 nobby was Justin’s pick of the entire bunch. There is great hope for this particular nobby, it has an exceptionally thick color bar compared to most. To take advantage of how thick thi...
Nobby Opal number 3 from our ‘Pick a Winner’ competition came in at a very close second to number 4. A mixed up looking nobby but it showed a lot of potential. From experience, these types of rough...
We put the call out on which nobby opal you wanted to see Justin cut and boy did you all respond beautifully and enthusiastically! To refresh your memory, this was the breakdown from Justin about ...
Incredible pieces of rough Andamooka Crystal Opal of this quality are becoming rarer to find. For that reason, I feel so privileged to have the opportunity to cut this one. With a little patience a...
The difficult decision every opal cutter must make is about face — the opal face of course! Which side do I decide to cut when both sides show promising colors? These are dilemmas I face constantly...