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$44.00 USD
Price
3669
1

27GMS OWN PART OF BOULDER HISTORY-ROUGH OPAL MMM 189

SKU
Dimensions (mm)
27.000 x 35.000 x 18.000mm
Weight (cts)
135.000
Type
Rough
Colours

OWN PART OF BOULDER HISTORY-ROUGH OPAL

THIS ROUGH PIECE BOULDER OPAL WAS TAKEN OFF WALL PANEL MADE BY DES BURTON IN MID TO LATE 1970 IN QUILPIE QUEENSLAND AUSTRALIA

IN THOSE DAYS BOULDER OPAL WAS PLENTIFUL AND THEY MADE WALL PANELS 1.8 METER TALL OR OVER 6 FT TALL AND THESE DISPLAYS WENT INTO SHOPS

PANELS ARE WORTH $20,000

THIS ROUGH SPECIMEN IS FROM ONE OF THESE PANELS

SIZE ROUGH OPAL 27x35x18MM

ONE IMAGE TAKEN DRY AND OTHER IMAGES WET .

DES WAS PIONEER OF THE BOULDER OPAL INDUSTRY AND BELOW IS SOME INFORMATION ABOUT HIM

Info from www.quilpie.qld.gov.au

Whilst in Quilpie, ensure you visit the iconic St Finbarr’s Church. In 1976 the Priest at the time Father John Ryan, believed that as Quilpie was an opal area, there should be some opal in the local Catholic Church, St Finbarr’s.

Father Ryan approached Des Burton, a local opal miner, for a quote on the cost of installing a border of opal around “Our Lady of Perpetual Succour”. Des Burton said “Leave it with me and I will see what I can do. It’s a bit bloody hard to quote on something like that. Why don’t I just give you that bit on the wall”? That ‘bit on the wall’ was almost an entire wall. Des cut ‘the wall’ into pieces, making up the beautiful opal front on the Altar, Lectern and Baptismal Font.

Des Burton was a pharmacist with a chemist shop in Quilpie who discovered the charm and mystical lure of opal Des’s fascination and love of opal turned him from a week-end prospector into a professional miner. Des and his wife Valma registered their first opal mining lease on 6th September 1967.

By the 1980’s after some good opal finds, Des had opened a number of retailing outlets including Quilpie Opals in Brisbane and later on shops at Surfers Paradise, Cairns and Perth. Des Burton passed away in February 1989. Des Burton is considered to be the most influential person in the history of opal mining in the Quilpie district and is also credited with showing the world the vibrant colour and captivating beauty of boulder opal.

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Rest of the world
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Registered Shipping $9.00 / 7 days $16.00 / 21 days
Australia
Registered Shipping is discounted to $9.00 on orders with 2 or more items
Rest of the world
Registered Shipping is discounted to $16.00 on orders with 2 or more items

opalmania
opalmania
Opalmania has beautiful boulder opals at gold coast opal & Gemstone centre, GCOGC and part of verified sellers with huge range opals on display at 25 surfers av mermaid waters Gold Coast 4218 Specimens and even large parcels rough opals on display plus the opal museum Please do visit if your in Queensland a s we are only hour drive from Brisbane airport. Opalmania was founded on offering Koroit opals from our opal mine as rough opal or polished Koroit opals. We sold our share in this opal fields as these opals are now getting harder to find We are opal mining out of Winton and will use Winton a s base in central Queensland to source opals from opal mining partnerships or purchase rough opal We have just set up large scale rough opal cutting operation with large commercial cutting ,slicing rubbing and polishing machines so we can handle bulk parcels rough boulder or Koroit rough opal
Qld, Australia
Verified
12803 Feedback

  • smoky
    smoky
    Positive

    Fascinating and very special! I love it! I am very glad that you decided to keep it whole! I admire it daily!

Audit

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Shipping Details

Shipping:
$16.00 21 days via Registered Shipping
Ships from:
Australia

Payment Options

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This seller adds 10.00% tax to transactions in Australia.

Overview

Listing Type : Standard
Product ID : 391658
Starts : 13th March 2024 11:00 pm PDT
* All prices are in USD