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$76.00
Current Bid
1
Bids
Closed
28/03/2022 10:10 pm
1
652
4

Whipbird Lucky Dip!

SKU
RG47825
Dimensions (mm)
1.000 x 1.000 x 1.000mm
Weight (cts)
1.000
Type
Rough
Colours

This auction lot is for one randomly picked bag of rough opal from the Whipbird Lucky Dip container. 

Grace mixed all 116 lots all together. I printed 116 bag stickers. Then I randomly pulled bags from the pile, applied a sticker, and then stacked in a rack in one of our safes. The bag you get will correspond to the Unique Stock Keeping Unit that is both printed on the bag and posted in its corresponding auction (the field labeled "SKU").

Note, I have transcribed everything said in this video below.  If you have trouble understanding me please put the below into the translator. If you want to bid on this auction it is very important that you understand exactly what I am saying.  Please message me if you have any questions before bidding. 

We would like to present a lucky dip called the whip bird lucky dip. A lucky dip is a game where you have a container of prizes and you have to dip your hand in and then find out what you have gotten. 

This auction lot is for one randomly picked bag of rough opal from the Whipbird Lucky Dip container. 

So many of you guys over the years have express to me that you’d love the opportunity to cut some high dollar opal but you dont think you would ever be able to afford any.  I’ve set this game up specifically so some of you at least will have the chance to do just that. 

I started out a few weeks ago with 15 kilos of mulga mine run from Lightning Ridge. After washing it all down it ended up to be one point three kilos of rough opal. I’ve graded that opal and put it into one hundred and sixteen different lots and those are the lots that make up  this whip bird lucky dip. 

There’s a few Whipbird parcels in our No Reserve section but most of them are available in our buy it now section. To see them all type "Whipbird,” one word, into the opal auction search bar. 

All of the opals that you see here in the background are the grade one, two, and three bags of the Whipbird lucky dip. 

Just to cover a few housekeeping items for these auctions:

Number One, we are more than happy to combine shipping with any of these auctions with the wins that you get from our store “53Frogs”  So after you have done your winning if you want to add one or two or three or more of these auctions go ahead and do it and then check out and everything will, the shipping will automatically be combined. 

Number two, just like you can’t return a scratch off lottery ticket once you have done the scratching, once you get these items and open them up and see what you have gotten from the lucky dip, they can not be returned. 

Number three, there will only ever be one Whipbird Lucky Dip auction and there will only ever be one hundred and sixteen lots for that auction. If you guys like this format and we want to do some more in the future we’ll call it something else, maybe platypus lucky dip, or kangaroo lucky dip.

This is a bit of an experiment so if you guys have any ideas about how we can make it more fun or more interesting just message me up in the message box and we’ll have a think about it.  

Good Luck and Happy Cutting. 

NOTICE: OUR OPAL AUCTIONS SHOP "53FROGS" RUNS HUNDREDS OF NO RESERVE AUCTIONS EVERY WEEK, BUT THEY ARE SPREAD ACROSS OPAL AUCTIONS IN MANY DIFFERENT CATEGORIES. TO SEE ALL OF OUR NO RESERVE AUCTIONS IN ONE PLACE, SEARCH "53FROGS" IN THE OPAL AUCTIONS SEARCH BAR.  COMBINED SHIPPING IS AVAILABLE ON ANY ITEMS BOUGHT FROM OUR STORE "53FROGS" AND PAID FOR AT THE SAME TIME.

Please read all of the below before buying any of our opal rough.

  •  When opal arrives, and you are not 100% happy, you can return for a refund.

  • But if you alter or cut the rough, it is yours, and we cannot exchange

  • However, if you touch any piece, you are accepting ownership, and Negative or neutral feedback cannot be left

  • Please study carefully before cutting.

  • Images of the rough opals are taking with water.

We grade our opal in ten different categories as per the table below. The grade of this parcel is in the Auction Title.

Grade

Description

#1

Top Grade-Mostly Reds/Pinks- Dark/ Patterns -Expert Cutters

#2

Very Bright- Clean- Mostly Red/Orange/Yellow -Expert Cutters

#3

Gamble- Red/Orange/Yellow -Nice Blue/Green --Expert Cutters

#4

Very Thin or Carving material- Intermediate/Expert cutters

#5

Large Single Gamble piece - from Beginner to Expert cutters

#6

Mid Grade Easy cutters - Intermediate cutters

#7

Mid Grade Gamble Rough- Intermediate cutters

#8

Beginners Cutting Rough- Beginning cutters

#9

Craft Material- Not Appropriate for cutting cabs

#10

No Colour Potch- Not Appropriate for cutting cabs

Opal rough from Lightning Ridge is notoriously hard to read and even harder to cut. Years ago, as a young cutter, I wanted to learn how to work with this material but found it difficult to find smaller parcels that I could afford that wasn't just a bunch of potch. This material comes from a commercial parcel that I have broken up into smaller lots and have posted them here for you. We spend a lot of time and effort grading this material, so you can pick the opal rough that is most appropriate for your skill level and budget. Please, Please don't buy cheap beginners rough from us and then give us negative feedback because you haven't cut precious zillion-dollar gems. It doesn't work that way. I've cut tens of thousands of LR opals, and although I won't get it right every time, I think my grading is pretty accurate. I take the time to do this so that your cutting experience will be fun and allow you to progress in difficulty, and reward you over time without making some of the very costly beginners' mistakes.

Here is a brief description of the criteria we use when grading the opal rough:

#9 "Craft Material" is not opal that is appropriate for cutting cabochons. This rough is best for Chipping and putting into floating pendants, craftwork etc. If you want some cheap material to set into your concrete front yard cats eyes or have a mosaic in the bathroom, you want to spice up; this might work for you :)

#8 "Beginners Cutting Rough" is excellent for beginners to get used to cutting this material without worrying about destroying great opals. It is a mix of Nobby and Seam opal. It will cut lots of picture stones and low-value opals. You'll learn to cut open nobbies, chase colour bars, deal with sand and get a general understanding of what it feels like to cut opals. Great material for practising cutting lovely shapes and bringing that talent sharp before attacking more expensive colour. We sort out everything with no colour in it, so 97% of this material shows colour, and 3% will be a Nobby opal that may or may not have colour inside.

#7 "Mid Grade Gamble Rough" is excellent to hone your skills and learn to read trickier opals. This material is full of thin colour bars, colour bars that run diagonally through rough, wavy colour bars, tricky sand spots, and blind stones where I can see that there is colour in the rough but have no idea how deep it goes. Very challenging, sometimes very rewarding rough. Sometimes you cry.

#6 "Intermediate Easy Cutters"- exactly that, with an intermediate skill level, you should be able to cut lovely medium brightness sellable opals from this material. They are generally clean, and you should have a pretty good idea about the kind and size of finished opals you will cut from watching the videos.

#5 "Large Single Gamble Pieces" Pretty much what it says on the tin. These can range from beginners to expert level. Cutting big stones like this is a very different skill from cutting small "pointers" or standard 1ct-3ct opals. These are great fun to cut and can be very rewarding if you get lucky.

#4 "Very Thin/Carving" Most of this material is super thin and appropriate for making doublets.

#3 "Gamble Expert Cutters" these look very bright/colourful and show good promise, but I can't see that they will cut a clean opal. The best blue/green material I find in the parcel also goes into this bucket.

#2 "Expert Cutters Clean" will generally give you precious bright sellable stones. They appear very clear to the eye. It looks like the colour bar covers most of the stone.

#1 "Top Grade" this material represents only a small fraction of our inventory. It is the very best material we find. Red on Black, Deep pinks, lovely patterns, strong black opals all ends up in this category. If I yell, "WOW, I want to cut this one!" it goes in this tiny dish.

 All opal cutting is a gamble, and classifying is just my opinion based on my opal cutting journey and current skill level.

When you get your rough please look it over carefully, both wet and dry.

With rough opal, we are happy to offer no-hassle returns as long as the opal has not been ground/snippet/altered. You cover the shipping costs.

 Payment is required within 48 hours of auction end. If you select Standard Shipping, we are not responsible for any lost or damaged items.

Payment via PayPal or credit card via PayPal.

We ship all items within 48 hours of payment unless it's a holiday we will ship on the next working day.

Standard Shipping Time: ETA 5-21 working days

The buyer is responsible for any customs/import Duty or taxes levied in the buyer's country.

Guarantee: With this particular auction, your satisfaction is not guaranteed. Just like in any other game of chance, there will be winners and losers. I find these particular kinds of games to be a lot of fun and hope you will as well. If however, you would prefer a satisfaction guarantee, please DO NOT bid on this action and instead look into one of our many other regular auctions.

Shipping provider Shipping to Australia Shipping to rest of world
Standard Shipping - Tracked $11.00 / 10 days $15.00 / 21 days
Australia
Standard Shipping - Tracked is discounted to $11.00 on orders with 2 or more items
Rest of the world
Standard Shipping - Tracked is discounted to $15.00 on orders with 2 or more items
Express Shipping $14.00 / 5 days $35.00 / 14 days
Australia
Express Shipping is discounted to $14.00 on orders with 2 or more items
Rest of the world
Express Shipping is discounted to $35.00 on orders of 2.00 or more

53frogs
53frogs
Welcome to 53Frogs! My name is Riley, and I'm excited to have you here exploring our opal shop. At 53Frogs, our goal is to provide a safe, easy, and enjoyable shopping experience for everyone. If for any reason you're not completely satisfied with your opal when it arrives, you can return it for a full refund as long as it is in its original, untouched condition within seven days of receipt. Please note that once you alter or cut the rough opal in any way, it becomes yours and we cannot offer a refund or exchange. It's important to carefully consider your purchase before cutting or altering any rough opal. Please keep in mind that the images of the rough opals on our website are taken while they are wet. If you do decide to alter or cut your opal, we ask that you please refrain from leaving negative or neutral feedback. We want every customer to have a positive experience with 53Frogs, and we appreciate your understanding and cooperation. Don't forget to check out our YouTube channel, "nnOpals," for more information about opals and our business. Thank you for shopping with us, and don't hesitate to reach out if you have any questions or concerns. Best regards, Riley
Yandina, Australia
Verified
66794 Feedback

  • stephendavis
    stephendavis
    Positive

    I really enjoyed this experience with the whipbird lucky dip soon fun and I was lucky enough to get a grade 1 bag and a grade 7 bag and I'm very happy with both. Thank you so much looking forward to the next one

  • bones63
    bones63
    Positive

    I can picture this stone as a beautiful ring set in silver! The strength of the colour in this stone is simply stunning!

  • bones63
    bones63
    Positive

    These are essential 'findings' - to create an artistic interpretation, of Australian Opal!

Bids History (1)
stephendavis
Purchased from this seller previously
1 year ago
$75.00

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Shipping Details

Shipping:
$15.00 21 days via Standard Shipping - Tracked
Ships from:
Australia

Payment Options

  • paypal
This seller adds 10.00% tax to transactions in Australia.

Overview

Listing Type : Standard
Product ID : 1201271
Starting Bid : $75
Starts : 28th March 2022 07:19 pm AEST
Ends : 29th March 2022 03:10 pm AEST
* All prices are in USD