An opal of a different color.
When you think of opals you usually picture a white opal with a little play of colors. The best of which are mined in Australia. There are lots of different types of opals mined in various parts of the world. In the United States there are some "pay to dig" mines that are open to the public. The Virgin Valley in Nevada has several mines and there is one in Spencer Idaho. The type pictured is Mexican Boulder Opal. 
I've cut most of the really nice ones in this stash but there is still some potential. Even ones without a play of color are beautiful. The red ones are especially interesting. They remind me of carnelian agate. 
Even when you are talking about boulder opal Austalia still has some of the finest specimens in the world. This one is actually a type of fossilized nut from called a yowah nut. I may polish just the face of that one, so it can be a display specimen. 
They sure are amazing cut into a gemstone. The veins of opal running through the matrix stone is quite the contrast. It's hard to capture the different flashes of color in a picture. Oh well I'll try harder next time lol. If you enjoyed the rock show don't forget to upvote, follow, and resteem. Thank you #steemit
Cool I've never seen opals like these before. Opal is my birth stone :) The blue one is stunning! So deep, more sapphire than a sapphire! lol
That's one is almost like a black opal it's so nice. Neat stuff sure. I've seen fossilized limb casts that was opalized with color like that.
Limb casts? What are those?
Tree branch
Cool! I have seen fossilized pine cones with opal in them, those were pretty stunning! Nature never ceases to amaze me lol
I actually found a petrified pine cone one time. Gave it to my day years ago for his birthday. I should've cut it in half so we could each have a piece lol. Figured I'd find more, but that wasn't the case.
Nice stuff DH! We keep meaning to get to one of the pay to dig places. We have some really nice small specimens that we need to take to the grinder. I love the diversity of opal.
I really want to go to the Crater Of Diamonds park. How cool would it be to find your own diamond? The only actual pay to dig mine I've been to was a gold mine. Roaring Camp near Jacksonville Ca. I just went on the day tour but would love to rent a cabin for a few days sometime. I found lots of garnets and gold flakes with my sluice box. One guy found a decent little nugget.
AHHHHH! All this talk about gems and minerals and gold gets my blood pumping. I have a little obsession with hopes of going to Crater of Diamonds Park. I'm such a lame rockhound though because I dont really care about monetary value...I just wanna find some pretties. Not to say I wouldnt be elated with a diamond find.
Have you ever looked into the Royal Peacock Opal Mine in NV? I wanna go there soon!
Ya and the rainbow spectrum mine owns the fire agate claim in Southern Ca. As well as the Sunstone mine up there. Hostestly it's my dream to get decent R.V. and travel the country going to all the best rockhounding places. A converted bus that runs on vegi oil would be ideal so I could save on gas. I'd Follow the rock and gem shows so I could vend my jewelry and rocks. Hit some dead shows and festivals to sell tie dyes too. I've got this old 1970 chevelle wagon I need to get running and get some body work done. That would be a good bargoning chip, to trade for one, eventually.
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hey man, thought you'd like to know i've just featured you on a new post, my favourite steemit artists!
With any luck it will send some more traffic your way :)
https://steemit.com/art/@robali123/a-showcase-of-quality-artists-on-steemit-jewellery-painting-leather-and-metalwork
Really cool of you. Thank you