Dear Lee, I certainly agree with you that mis-representation of provenance is reprehensible. But, let me pose a simple question.........
Ron, I have been following this thread with great interest. Allow me
to pose this question: … suppose you are at a show and you come
across a dealer that has a superb piece of Black Opal and he quotes
you a very fair price. You then ask him where it came from, (
supposing all along that it is Lightning Ridge ) and he says,"
Lightning ridge". Being a very good deal, and knowing that provenance
is not really important, you buy all he has. The rough is cut, the
stones are set (or displayed loose) and everything looks great.
Six weeks later you notice that one of the loose stones has a small
crack in it. (re-cutting necessary) Two more weeks and three more
cracks, and the stone re-cut has cracked again. You start to worry
about that 4.6ct. black set in an 18k pendant that a very nice lady
just fell in love with and took home. As it turns out, this great
black opal is actually from Lightning Ridge,- Mehi Field, infamous for
stones that craze in a few months. Don’t you wish that you had persued
that provenance a little more? On some stones, I agree with you. But
on opal, provenance in everything and you must do business with
dealers you can trust implicitly. the good ones will not deal with
questionable material. And that bad material is found in many fields.
As we all know, not all stone dealers can be trusted, especially at
gem shows when they think they will not see you again.
Mark SunSpirit Designs p.s. true story!