The Opal thread...

[chrisski 854]

I don't see anything that looks like any letters.  If you want to trace it out and post, I know a couple dozen of the 4500 kanji.

[clay 1,050]

Kanji are Japanese characters Chris. The OP is seeing Chinese. I see Greek writing but what it spells is too naughty to post on a public forum.

[Mila 21]

Thanks all for trying! I'll show to you what I meant later.

In a meantime see any writings in this opal?

https://youtu.be/o4TQFxSvgQE

[Mila 21]

It appears that you  believe that  "Chinese  writings" means only these  writings that they could be read. Well, if you are to look at this category Chinese writings here https://www.opalauctions.com/auctions/chinese-writing-opals/ you will see that many of the opals in this category have less resemblance to Chinese writings than mine do.

[Jadee 20]

Here are some of my opals from Ethiopia - they are raw of course; I have yet to learn about polishing these on my wheel and I would rather I would have an expert standing near by to guide me. I have been trying to find a rock club near where I live but there aren't any that I have found one yet. There is Minnesota Mineral club but that is a good 25 miles from where I live. If I found a tutor how much would it cost? 

 

[Jadee 20]

 Here are some cabbed Ethiopians. I bought them from a lapidary company some years back, I am not too sure if we are allowed to say the name of the business on here, but if we can I would love to share it. They did such a beautiful job on these! 

[Mila 21]

Here are opalised fossil shells

 

 

[Mila 21]

One more shell

 

 

[Morlock 1,722]

Where are these from?

[Mila 21]

1 hour ago, Morlock said:

Where are these from?

It is from Australia.

 

Here is more info from this site

 

https://www.nationalopal.com/opal-showrooms-museums/opalised-fossils.html

 

“Opal is a spectacular gemstone. It is also a dazzling key to Australias mysterious past, because buried in the Australian opal fields are fossils of dinosaurs and other strange creatures that lived 110 million years ago, in Early Cretaceous times.

These fossils are literally gems: teeth, bones, shells and pinecones which have turned to solid opal. Australia is the only country where opalised animal fossils are found.

Opalised fossils are rare and precious; even more so because in Australia, it is rare to find fossils of any kind from the time of the dinosaurs.

During Cretaceous times a shallow inland sea called the Eromanga Sea covered nearly one-third of Australia. Streams and rivers fed into saltwater estuaries, and evergreen forests blanketed the floodplains.

While pterosaurs soared overhead, the waters of the Eromanga Sea teemed with fish, invertebrates and marine reptiles such as plesiosaurs, pliosaurs and ichthyosaurs.

Some opal fields, such as White Cliffs and Coober Pedy, mainly produce fossils of marine (saltwater) plants and animals. At Lightning Ridge, most opalised fossils are from land-living or freshwater animals and plants. Opalised snails and mussel shells are found on most Australian opal fields, because snails and mussels live in both marine and freshwater environments.”

[GotAU? 105]

13 minutes ago, Mila said:

It is from Australia.

 

Here is more info from this site

 

https://www.nationalopal.com/opal-showrooms-museums/opalised-fossils.html

 

“Opal is a spectacular gemstone. It is also a dazzling key to Australias mysterious past, because buried in the Australian opal fields are fossils of dinosaurs and other strange creatures that lived 110 million years ago, in Early Cretaceous times.

These fossils are literally gems: teeth, bones, shells and pinecones which have turned to solid opal. Australia is the only country where opalised animal fossils are found.

Opalised fossils are rare and precious; even more so because in Australia, it is rare to find fossils of any kind from the time of the dinosaurs.

During Cretaceous times a shallow inland sea called the Eromanga Sea covered nearly one-third of Australia. Streams and rivers fed into saltwater estuaries, and evergreen forests blanketed the floodplains.

While pterosaurs soared overhead, the waters of the Eromanga Sea teemed with fish, invertebrates and marine reptiles such as plesiosaurs, pliosaurs and ichthyosaurs.

Some opal fields, such as White Cliffs and Coober Pedy, mainly produce fossils of marine (saltwater) plants and animals. At Lightning Ridge, most opalised fossils are from land-living or freshwater animals and plants. Opalised snails and mussel shells are found on most Australian opal fields, because snails and mussels live in both marine and freshwater environments.”

Wow, its really neat how the opal replaces the original material.  I’ve seen some beautiful examples of petrified wood wrapped in opal, it was gorgeous.

[Mila 21]

On 2/25/2021 at 10:53 AM, GotAU? said:

Wow, its really neat how the opal replaces the original material.  I’ve seen some beautiful examples of petrified wood wrapped in opal, it was gorgeous.

This one is wood from Indonesia.

 

 

[GotAU? 105]

13 hours ago, Mila said:

This one is wood from Indonesia.

 

 

That one is a nice replacement specimen.  If nice pieces of opalized wood were not so expensive I would love to get a nice one for my collection.

The most amazing piece I saw was not replacement, the original brownish petrified wood material was intact, but it had a thick piece of fire opal draped over the top of the wood, It almost look like it melted over the wood. It was in a museum mineral display.

Opal is in amazing looking mineral.

Edited Saturday at 05:25 PM by GotAU?

[Mila 21]

5 minutes ago, GotAU? said:

That one is a nice replacement specimen.  If nice pieces of opalized wood were not so expensive I would love to get a nice one for my collection.

This one was $79 including the $30 shipping from Indonesia.

[Mila 21]

Here is an interesting stone that is an opal and an agate at the same time

 

And here is a microscopic image of it