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<p>[QUOTE=&quot;808 raver, post: 11098341, member: 4654&quot;]The problem with opal is not many people understand it enough to make an informed decision and the Australian opal industry know this. Should a miner be able to pull $100,000 a week from a mine? Should a cutter inflate a stones value by 20x often going from $500 to $5000-$10,000 a ct just for 1hr&#039;s work? by the time it&#039;s in a retail market the stone has risen in price way beyond it&#039;s true worth IMHO.&nbsp; </p><p>The Australian opal market is bonkers, 95% of the worlds opals come from Australia so not rare. Their crystal opal is very rare whereas Ethiopian crystal opal is the standard.</p><p>Take this Ethiopian crystal opal I carved, it&#039;s full crystal and very bright, @17.2 ct&#039;s&nbsp; (massive for an Aus opal) it&#039;s more robust than a Aus opal, it wont dry, craze or crack over time because it&#039;s hydrophane (can absorb water) but the Aus opal industry condemn Ethiopian opal for this very reason, it&#039;s true when it gets soaked in water it goes transparent but after a few days it will return to how it was before. The price of Aus opal is so over inflated and the price of Ethiopian opal is so under valued, I don&#039;t think the Aus opal bubble will last for much longer. You are right, one country will work for a few dollars a day whereas the other will lobby law makers to make it almost impossible for any new miners to start and keep their lucrative/greedy monopoly, I feel sorry for all the unwary Aus opal buyers who are enticed in by slogans like &quot;investment opals&quot; [ATTACH=full]536513[/ATTACH] [ATTACH=full]536513[/ATTACH][/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

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