Dear All,
I have a client who lost a very old strand of Australian opal beads.
We had appraised them and we have photos of them, so we have a good
idea of what we are trying to locate for her. They were a white body
color, with good flashes of color. The strand was graduated from 3mm
to 9mm, had 98 beads, and weighed 67.41 carats. The beads were
spherical.
Most all that I am finding now is Ethiopian material, which looks
very different. I found one site- australianopalmines.com, but they
sell directly to the public, not wholesale, and they seem a bit high
priced even at retail. We will use that source if we have to, but
I’m hoping we have other options that might work with us. I have
exhausted my regular opal dealers already. Any suggestions out
there? Rondelles are definitely not our first choice, but if it
comes to that, our client might consider it.
Thanks for any direction you might give me.
Sincerely,
Brenda