Description

Eye catching black boulder opal ring

Stunning pear shaped black boulder opal ring set in 18k yellow gold bezel style. Stones of this quality are getting rarer since the black opal fields at Lightning ridge are not producing like they did.  This is an expensive ring for someone who can afford it. 

Opal Ring Description:

Pear or drop shape ring with swirl featured ring design.  The stone is not your normal oval shaped opal but is actually a drop or pear shape and is set sideways on the finger which gives it a unique appearance.

The metal is 18k yellow gold and there are no additional stones to take away from the main feature which is opal.

Just to remind you in case you have not read about it on this site, this is a boulder opal from the Western Queensland Opal Fields and is classified as a black opal as well because it is found in nature with a brown ironstone backing and its this backing that gives the opal its dramatic deep green blue appearance. 

What is a ‘black’ or ‘dark’ or ‘crystal’ opal or Boulder Opal?  Click here to find out.

Boulder Opal Description:

Winton is at the northern end of the famous boulder opal fields in Western Queensland. These stones which were probably the first black opals found in Australia in the middle of the 19th century.

They are similar to the Lightning Ridge Black opal except that they have dark brown ironstone back instead of black potch.

Such colors and patterns are typical of boulder opal which comes from a strip of the outback of Western Queensland Australia between Cunnamulla with its opal fields of Yowah and Koroit up through Quilpie to Winton in the north.

The town of Winton boasts a museum recording some amazing finds of among other things dinosaurs and other ancient artifacts. Winton along with Longreach to the south has a history of nearly two hundred years of brave outback pioneers who wandered the bush both in search of minerals and caring for cattle and crops.

Winton is where Australia’s airline industry had its birth and it’s also the place along with others who gave birth to the opal industry.

Opal, arguable the most unique of all gemstones is found in this area inside large ironstone boulders and has to be released from mother nature with the help of large machinery and long with diamond blades and lapidary wheels.

The process is someone of a muddy experience but the resultant gemstones are not only amazing in color but also in pattern and shape.