Jewelry Television Item number XTG3324 has a price tag of $49,000.00. An extremely rare 70+ carat amazing quality Ethiopian opal, the likes of which JTV--the largest loose gemstone retailer in the world--has never seen! See (or buy) the African Queen Ethiopian Opal here on jtv.com before it debuts on air!
Full details about the 70+ Ethiopian Opal available here on jtv.com
JTV's overseas expert gemstone buyer, George Williams tells us that he has never personally seen an equal quality, dark-based opal from the Welo district that is over 10 carats in size. This is one is a whopping 70+ carats! George first saw this incredible opal at the recent 2011 Hong Kong Gem & Jewelry Show. Named the “African Queen” by the vendor, this opal's regal beauty definitely puts it into a class all its own! We believe this is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to share this caliber of Ethiopian opal with our JTV customer, and to give one extraordinarily fortunate collector the opportunity to own such a world-class gemstone. The African Queen Ethiopian Opal has traveled thousands of miles to be here, so don't miss its television debut during Jewelry Television's Holiday Opal Fest, coming up tomorrow, Saturday November 5th and Sunday November 6th.
The African Queen is a hydrophane crystal opal that has even, brownish-amber body color. Some opals with similar body color have even been marketed as “chocolate opal” in the past—a perfect descriptor for this magnificent gem! The presence of iron oxides is believed to responsible for the African Queen’s rich, warm base color. Completely natural and untreated, the African Queen’s darker base dramatically enriches the play of color within the stone, making the colors more "vivid" than they would be on a white or clear crystal base.
This stone is of monster size, specifically 31x27mm! Although its exact Ethiopian mining location is unknown, opals of this size are definitely out of the ordinary. In Ethiopia’s Welo district (the source of our wildly popular Ethiopian Opals), opals weighing 3 carats and below are the norm. There is only a very small percentage of opal gems produced that range between 3 and 25 carats. A stone this size--plus its dark base--set it apart from the crowd. What a superb addition the African Queen would make to your gemstone collection!
The African Queen’s patterns are also refreshingly different and offer a unique change of color and pattern on both sides. If you are that customer who decides to set this collector gem into jewelry, we suggest choosing a mounting that allows the opal to move (swivel) to take advantage of both sides.
Thus far, our buying team is only aware of two other opals comparable in size and quality that have come from the Welo district, whereas Australia’s Lightning Ridge area has produced many hundreds. There have been some nice opals produced in the 15 to 35 carat size range, but nearly all are white or crystal based. The larger, darker based stones aren’t nearly this dark, nor of the quality, nor have the brilliance of the African Queen Ethiopian Opal!
