Thumbelyna! Front and center, post!Follow

Thumbs,
My apologies for not getting back to you sooner about the opals. My buddy, the gemologist, did not want me purchasing any of the stuff they are selling in the bazaar (at least, the vast majority of it) since most of it is synthetic. He returned back here to Afghanistan with a number of stones which he himself mined, cut, and polished back in the '70's and '80's. Yeah, these gems have been sitting in his safe for decades, lol...

Anyhow, he brought back a variety, of which I have selected seven. Three are what most people consider opals as they know them: Whiteish stones with little flashes of multiple hues that change color as you turn the stone. The shapes of these are a single rectangular cut and two oval cuts. The next type is an oval cut "boulder opal" which is a brownish-black stone with a green flash that zips across the face as you move it. Another one is a "gray opal" which has a grayish pausch (sp?) that has flash in it. The sixth is a square cut "pinfire opal" and has little itsy-bitsy multi-colored sparkles through the entire stone. And the last opal I am sending you is an oval "jelly opal." It has a rather clear crystal, umm, body which has longer streaks of flash across its' length.

Two of the gems have a predominently red flash, but the rest are mostly green and blue flash with multiple colors added in.

Pick any of these you like or keep all of them. He is asking $15 for each stone. Any you don't want just send back to me with the money for the rest. If you want a higher quality stone he has a *ton* of stuff which he brought with him to show me. It ranges from the $50 range to $300-ish. The prices are exceptionally good since he is just leaving what he was going to sell them for back in 1973 when he was flying and mining out of Australia and Papua New Guinea. Apparently he has a safe full of rough cut stone that he had planned to cut and polish someday, but only now has decided to actually do it.

He also has a wide variety of other types of stones, from sapphires to topaz to zircon to amethyst-- all different cuts, colors, gemstones, and sizes. He is by nature a perfectionist so the quality is excellent and the cuts are more varied than your standard princess, round, or cushion cut.

In other news, I went to the bazaar and found a 3.1 ct padparadscha sapphire than is exquisite. I bargained him from $225 down to $150, but the stone is likely to appraise at somewhere close to $2500-$5000 wholesale and un-set. Once I get it put in some gold, it'll be worth somewhere in the neighborhood of $10,000 to $15,000. I'll give it to my wife for our 30th anniversary this summer.

For those of you who are wondering what a pad sapphire is or looks like, the name comes from India where it means "lotus flower." The color is pinkish but not pink, orangeish but not orange, reddish but not ruby red-- almost a salmon-y pink like Coho salmon. That particular color is more rare than a fine ruby red (rubies are sapphires, only they are considered more precious, thus earning them their own name). We used the heat index tester, the Chelsea filter, and louped it (and discovered a tiny tiny inclusion off on the corner of the stone), and have determined it is a natural, unheated, untreated pad sapph. *Very* nice find.

Meanwhile the war goes on and the weather is warming up.

Thumbs, email me for my address and please send me yours. I'll get these stones off in the mail as soon as I hear from you. Again, no pressure to buy. If you don't want any of them, just send them back to me.

Totem

Toss up some pics of your finds.

They would make very pretty jewelry. I have a friend that could make some nice pieces from them. I'd also be intrested.

I see us setting up an import/export business.

FTFY

Ok before I type anything out more. I have no clue what a good/bad/gem is I have done NO research at all, but I'm always looking to save money and score points with the wife.

So anyway all this talk of pretty stones made me thing about getting something for her maybe 2 small gems one ruby (July Birthstone) and one Blue topaz/Blue Zircon/Lapis Lazuli. To make into either a ring or a pendant depending on price.

Like I said I know almost nothing maybe PM me with any info or something.

Do your gems come with a complimentary sack?

/snarf

-NW

Lol @ Totem's Gem Emporium.

I'd would purchase some opals. They're my birthstone. Pm me or whatever.

Rimes, welcome back off the boat and all that. Update on your fiance, life, getting out of the Navy, etc. please.