Opal Treasures find - 4500% Return!

Opalauctions shares a wonderful Opal Treasure Story.

It all started when Opalauctions very own verified seller ‘Kangaroo Opals’  sold a beautiful 9 carat opal rub to a Canadian buyer sold at a price of $45. To view the auction click here.

The story continues as the Canadian buyer enjoys cutting and polishingas a hobby rubbing down the opal piece. The 9 carat rough piece went through a dramatic transformation as it then became an amazing and bold 5.5 carat multi coloured gem. A true gem in the rough and one which would make any polisher proud and inspired for his patience and efforts!

Since then the Canadian buyer has been offered $2,000 for this beautiful opal. With others valuing the opal to be worth even more at $2,500. That is an incredible 4500% return on a opal that was purchased for only $45.

When you buy opal rubs it’s like treasure hunting. You never know the true beauty and potential an opal has until you polish it. If you happen to find a treasure you will uncover the brightness, colours, patterns and the additional bonus of increasing the value of the polished opal. It’s an exciting journey

The comments below are personally written by the Opalauctions buyer and seller involved in this inspiring story.

Opalauctions Buyer ‘Rockdog’ and his personal perspective of the opal journey.

Years ago there used to be a television show that had common people like me finding hidden treasure in mainly precious and semiprecious gem stones near or close to where they lived, and if they could do this I thought to myself why couldn’t I? From there on my interest in rocks and gems began.

I got started in rocks and gems looking for sapphire rough but never had the equipment to cut a finished gemstone or even the know how and a lot of poor judgement in trying to find a cuttable rough one from bags of mixed gravel so it was the end of that venture.

I guess approx. 25 years ago when an uncle of mine showed up at my door with a Opal, and after one look at the dancing colors and patterns I was hooked for life and started to take in as much information and variety of opals as I could to start in this new adventure. After that I started buying cutting equipment picked up my first win of some beginners rough from OA, and this is where its got me to today.

I was searching on the web trying to find tips and tricks on how to cut opal and stumbled upon the Opal Auctions forum with its many helpful members that had some of the best info on how to go about cutting and polishing opal the proper way, which also led me into the Opal Auction site where I discovered a place to find rough opal for cutting from many sellers who were also miners, so I knew this would become a safe place to purchase rough opal.

The best thing about Opalauctions was the many different varieties of finished to rough opal that is available to the common person, plus it was a site who specifically catered to the opal lover or anyone looking to become one like me.

This particular stone I bought was nothing out of the norm for rough opal as many others I had looked at over the years. The thing that caught my eye was the nice looking color dance that was coming from the sides of the opal that Mick from ‘Kangarooopals’ had shown on a video in the auction listing, his description was very helpful how he had described it, right down to the size and what the rub had to display at the time, so like many others Opal lovers who cut I took a gamble and placed a bid for 45 USA dollars and won!

Mintabie Opal is a little harder in density compared to most the other varieties, because of this it seems to take an extreme polish to it.

I was surprised to say the least after having such a high figure quoted to me of the approx value and I have already had several friends ask to buy it. This was something a hobbyist like me dreams of coming across, it makes one realize that it is possible to find these hidden gems out in the market and when you do it makes all your hard effort feel that it was worth it. The opal had started out at 9 carats, cut and polished the final weight ended up at 5.5 carats with the dimensions of 18 x 11.6 x 3.3 mm full of of bright coloring and patterns.

There is a few other sites out there that deal in rough stones but Opal Auctions tends to cater more to the opal lover and surpasses in stock and quality better then anyone on the web. I have been a member of Opal Auctions since 2008 and I am most satisfied with all my purchases over the years and I still continue to bid with confidence that I’m getting what I pay for from a verified seller.

If you see something you like finished or in rough by all means bid on it but keep within your pocket book limit because the rush of a bidding war can become pretty heated and the adrenalin kicks in sometimes, if you know what I mean. Don’t go over board and stick within your limit.

Buyer Profile

Name: Todd Bourassa

From: Alberta, Canada

Age: 45

Member of Opalauctions (Buyer): 7 Years

Here at Opalauctions, we are over the moon to hear such a positive response from a buyer. For us, it means we are heading in the right direction. To deliver customer satisfaction, trust, confidence through our verified seller program is what we also try to achieve. It’s fantastic for our staff to hear such a dream come true story and we hope to continue to gift our buyers with such an experience.

Opalauctions Seller ‘Kangaroopals’ and his personal perspective of the opal journey.

I am delighted that Todd had such a great result with the rough piece he bought from me on Opal Auctions and it is great to have another customer from Canada.

I have had other customers have great results buying my Opal, but Todd`s 45 x return on investment is pretty special no matter how you look at it. If he wasn’t hooked on Opal before he sure is now! The play of the Metallic colors, especially that magic circle, is superb. Its a very good example of a Mintabie Opal. The red has to be seen to be believed. The video is great but it looks even better in the hand I am told. I could see the color in it when I listed it as rough, I knew it was good, I thought it would cut 10 x outlay no problems… To know that a wholesale price of $2500 has been placed on the Opal is fantastic, but somehow I think it will take a lot more than that to lever it out of Todd.

My aim as a seller is to put the very best Opal that you can afford into your hands. I want you to make a lot of money so you come back and buy more. Then I can go back to the Opal Fields of South Australia and buy more rough Opal to work on myself and sell to you again and again. Being a Cutter myself, I know what I am looking at and that allows me to only sell what I would be happy to keep myself.

Opal does not need to cost thousands to cut thousands and coming up to a year since my first sale on Opal Auctions, its nice to actually show that dreams do come true! I want my customers to have a fantastic result and I am trying very hard to make that happen when I go to the fields to buy Rough Opal. I thank Todd for sharing his great result with all of us on Opal Auctions.

I aim to be selling Opal for another 40 years at least so reputation is very important to me as it is to Opal Auctions.

I tell all my customers the same thing: Buy the best rough you can afford, more often doesn`t mean better. That way you will be able to move up the grades at a steady pace with very little waste and comfortably pay for your hobby out of sales and one day maybe buy that car or house that you just couldn’t manage on one income.