[Rockhounds] Opal fossil...anyone have a couple $million to spend?

[Hans Durstling]

Opal fossils are not at all rare. Unless this one is an exquisitely  
preserved individual, which it does not appear to be. Moreover it is 
described as an "unidentified" species. It does however appear to be 
brilliantly colored  crystal opal as described. So my feeling is that 
its value would come more as cutting material than as fossil. But the 
fact that nothing is said about inclusions or other cuttability factors 
would make *me* a cautious buyer.  Certainly if it were being offered 
as cutting rough I'd expect to see the seller's estimate of how many 
carats it might yield in finished goods. My guess from looking at the 
pictures is it would yield stones in the $ 200-300 a carat range. But I 
might be wildly off there, my opal pricing is getting old and out of 
date. So even at the assumption of zero cutting loss  you'd be only in 
the half million range. Like I say I might be off in my price 
estimation, so that's just speculating around the ballpark as it were. 
Be interesting to follow the progress of this one.

Carol Bova, penny for your thoughts?

Cheers,
Hans Durstling
Moncton, Canada

   Dot says that she wants it for Christmas.  I already told her that the
> 8x10mm in her engagement ring will have to suffice.
>
> GcB
>
>> -----Original Message-----
>> From: rockhounds-bounces at lists.drizzle.com
>> [mailto:rockhounds-bounces at lists.drizzle.com] On Behalf Of
>> Jeanne Rhodes-Moen
>> Sent: Thursday, December 20, 2007 7:45 AM
>> To: Rockhounds at drizzle.com: A mailing list for rock and gem collectors
>> Subject: [Rockhounds] Opal fossil...anyone have a couple
>> $million to spend?
>>
>> http://cgi.ebay.com/EXTREMELY-RARE-OPAL-SHELLFISH-FOSSIL_W0QQi....
>
> -- 
> _______________________________________________
> Rockhounds at drizzle Mailing List
> Subscription Services:
> http://lists.drizzle.com/mailman/listinfo/rockhounds
> List Home Page, with a link to the List Usage Policy:
> http://www.eclecticlapidary.com/Rockhounds/index.html
>