Looking Inside a 50+ Pound Boulder Opal
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- čas přidán 7. 07. 2024
- Australian opal miner Rod Griffin dropped in The Arkenstone Gallery to deliver our newest acquisition, a giant 50-pound boulder opal that he carefully split into a dozen or so pieces to reveal the rich, blue and green opal hidden within this "normal" looking rock.
M: All right guys, so Rob picked this Opal up at AGTA in Tucson this year and we're getting it delivered and we're getting a little bit of history on how this thing was broken up.
Rod: Okay, my name is Rod Griffin. I'm very good with a hammer and I'm very good miner. Okay, I've been doing this since I was five years old and I'm now 78. And this particular boulder came from southwest Queensland in Australia and it's quite a remarkable boulder for the context that it's a complete boulder and it hasn't been broken up to be cut to stones. Now you might think why would I pick this up off the ground?
Rob: I think why would I buy this from you? Yeah, that's what I'm thinking.
Rod: And I think well you can always have your money back. I've got the checkbook in my pocket.
Rob: Yeah. Okay. So Rod generously agreed to fully prep it.
Rod: There it is.
Rob: We'll just get that gone. He agreed to fully prep this so that we can make this a display piece. Show us what you did.
Rod: Well, we sliced it here and left this hole. Then I decided to, if you were going to make it into stones, you would have cut the top off and looked down inside and seen where all the lines were. Okay, but in this case I didn't have that possibility. So I took one piece at a time, studied it and then I have now opened it up to make it into a beautiful piece. And this is also another beautiful piece.
Okay, and it just opens itself up to be the most magnificent boulder that I've had for a long time. So when it falls apart like this and this particular piece is magic and now when you look at this piece and you look on top of it you think nothing but then you turn it around look at this stone here. Look at the piece, look at the color there. To me it takes my breath away because purple blue is the Australian and also American color. So this piece came off right here. Yeah. I'm just gonna move that out of the way. But if you'd like to just look at this piece here in the light, you see that color in there.
This is what Rob saw in Tucson and he thought from that it's worth trusting you to see what else is here.
Rob: I certainly would not trust myself to know where to go. So you're telling me you saw lines, mystic lines that only you saw in this and you could get the color out along them.
Rod: Yeah. See he knows where to get that broken in half so that it turns into that. If I did it right I would chop it in pieces.
Rod: You see this piece here. See this piece here. There's more under there. There's a color that goes through there and that could I could there could be a decent nodule in there if we wanted to break it again. This goes through and goes into this blue color there okay you can see the blue line see this see that but I could hit that and break that for you in front of the TV here. If you wanted me to. I've got my hammer in the car. And then we'd have jewelry we wouldn't have a museum display. This piece here shows you how beautiful it could be going through here coming out to this blue color here. I see a touch there. There's the blue there. Wow. But it takes my breath away. And I've been in the business a long time. Look at that color. Yeah this is the largest complete boulder I've ever seen. - Zábava
This is beyond mind blowing. Those gigantic chunks with inches thick color. I mean museum quality stuff wow.
My Friends, This opal is a fossilized Giant Bird Feather or Truly Dragon 🐉 Feather 🪶… Mudflood Fossil… Some call Mud Fossils… Please look it up… It’s all over Utube under these names… Love and Light…
Thanks so much for enjoying it!
The color is paper thin, not several inches thick. Which is why it must be broken instead of carved. You could easily grind right through the paper thin opal layer from the sided and destroy it.
Better sell to museum...the price will be triple for sure.
@@kishuinupower9163 unfortunately museums are not so well-funded. A great option would be finding a private buyer who would be interested in loaning or donating to a museum, so it can be enjoyed by the public!
I love how you kept it together. It tells a story as you journey through unlocking each segment.
Wow I don't know what to say that's absolutely gorgeous just mind blowing color what a find
Thanks for enjoying it!!! We love it too :)
Mother Nature at her finest!
A beautiful specimen.
This is the most remarkable piece of Opal I have ever seen very Nice
Dreams do come true!
Those colors are magnificent, what a find.
Beautiful!!! I love Rob! Have known him for many years from the gem shows. Absolutely incredible and beautiful opals from Australia!
That is a truly incredible boulder opal. Fantast8c find!
Those colors are so vivid! Amazing!
Absolutely stunning! Opal is my favorite.
Brilliant, crazy blues 💙 amazing colors ❤❤
INCREDIBLY AMAZING!!!
That's one beautiful rock.
What a beautiful stone ❤❤❤❤
That is magnificent, I've never seen anything so
brilliantly beautiful!
I have never seen anything like this. AMAZING find!
Absolutely stunning !
Wow , wow , wow , this is beautiful and breath taking . Love it .
Great video , extremely educational and informative, thanks for the geology lesson!!! 🎉
Just unbelievable 🎉
That is absolutely gorgeous! Wow!!🤯🥰
That is gorgeous!
So awesome. Im so happy for this guy. What a find
OMG I am gagging on the gorgeousness! Opal is my jam! ❤
Look honey , I just found a couple million dollars inside a rock
100 Millionen Dollar
That's pretty incredible. I swear one day I'll have a little opal lol
They’re lovely! We have some available on iRocks.com if you’re looking!
I'd love to own an opal 😊
@@christabellmiranda5480 Check out iRocks.com (and we have this one on mineralauctions.com right now, too! www.mineralauctions.com/items/fire-opal-with-color-flash-100998)
@@christabellmiranda5480 absolutely, I don't need anything big or ridiculous. Just a nice like $500 piece if that's even possible lol. I'd love to get a black opal ring when I'm married, also doesn't need to he some special color just nice
@@Yahweh-Chase-Bella you can buy opals online as cheap as a few dollars. Obviously nothing spectacular, but you'll still see colour as cheap as $20
Absolutely stunning! ❤
Beautiful
Thank you! Cheers!
Just mind blowing!!! Stunning!!!
That rocks million,s of yrs old,that's what I find incredible & nature has beauty.
Stunning color
It's just breathtaking, love the deep blues. Oh to have a complete parade made including tiara, necklace, earrings, bracelet and brooch. One can dream. And a ring maybe a pair of bracelets.
The word astonishing has a new thumbnail in my brain
Breathtaking!!!!
My absolute favorite stone ever!!! Nothing compares! 👌
I would be totally happy with just a slice of one of these showing its beauty!!!!!
Just, wow!
Stunning ❤
Going to mineral show next weekend can't wait.....gorgeous opal wow
All I can say is WOW !
A Great Find 👍
Awesomeness your video really Rocks 👏
Very colorful and nice 👍
That is very impressive my friend 👍🧲⚓️
Thanks 👍
Wow, the find of a dream 😮
I learned more in this video, from one good presentation, than 20 hunter videos..
My work here is done. If you’re looking for me the rest of the week, I’ll be at the pool.
Damn. Just wow.
Stupendous!
More likely had been in an area Opals exists, & experience told Him to take a CRACK AT IT... AMAZING FIND!!! ❤️🧡💛💚💙💜✂️✌️
Mesmerizing
I'm speechless congratulations
dang! that's amazing
Most beautiful stone ever
I absolutely love opal, that is so pretty, if you ask me that's just as pretty as any other gemstone, just my opinion though, I feel lucky to a certain extent, opal is my birthstone
That is an incredible opal
something worth 50+ pounds of opal. great find mate.
It looks like a giant dirt-clod, and then...
WOW! ohmygosh, that is the most amazing thing I've ever seen.
Not a bad surprise, right?!
Absolutely breathtaking gigantic complete Boulder opal it's the biggest I've ever seen by far simply stunning
Wooow...marvellous
nice find
Wow gorgeous
You are Blessed 🙏
Thats absolutely insane! I've never seen such a large specimen of bolder with such thick color, a truly unique find!
Thank you!!! I'm so glad I get to visit it in the gallery
Omg😮 thats gigantic!
So Breathtakingly Beautiful
😲 How would you even know? Looks like any other rock🪨 only someone with his lifetime of experience would know. Absolutely Beautiful!
Canadain Iraqi . Hey i just want to say ( THANK YOU) . Your effort and knowledge is appreciated . I l😅ve GEMS .
Keep up the good work buddy am trying to get up to see you before it’s to late for one of us Bob yowah
Incroyable....
It's faaantastic.
I would love a piece. That tiny one.. raw no turning it. I think it's beautiful in the rock it formed it!
Que hermosos colores de esa piedra.
Holy shit that's stunning
Imagine paying someone to break apart a stone that you paid a ton of money for and then hear them say how they would have done it a totally different way if the purpose was to get gems out of it.
Yeah but our purpose wasn’t to get gems out of it so we’re pretty stoked to have it ;)
Imagine getting tattoo and the ink master says he somehow got the liquid cidny mixed up with his inks. U can't imagine dis unless u trip like I do
I could peruse it , looking for the best way to display and play with it .
@@gloriabadon2694 being tattooed with liquid L? I literally can't even imagine that
Rod is a legend and always so eager to show off these formations.
He's pretty nice too considering guys like him from that generation in aus can be stone cold and very difficult to learn from.
My birthday is in October and I’m always looking for pretty opals but WOW that is beyond gorgeous. That’s one in a lifetime kind of stone.❤😮
I'm an Australian as well and Ive never seen a boulder opal as big or good as that 🇦🇺🦘
Wow!!!!!!
❤ so beautiful and educational ❤
Замечательный опал, как же вам повезло!
How did this form? Was there a mud flow very rich in silica and other minerals that covered some organic material, later hardening into that boulder with that beautiful opal?
Interested in how this would have came to be.
Three A..Awesome Astonishing Amazing
Que belleza de piedra 🥰
Wow - amazing!
❤❤❤
Now that is a Huge Payday! LoL
Looks like this came from another planet alien space rock never seen a color like that before
The arkenstone is absolutely the best opal I'm the universe.
WOW
Wow, beautiful stone.. How much would something like that go for on the market??? ❤❤❤
!(: WOW, THANKS ;)!
I would drill holes into each one of the bottom pieces and stick rods inside them and have it look like it's exploding outwards and you can see into the core of it and then I would use LED lights shining into the inside to make it so you could see the fantastic beautiful gorgeous inside
No u wouldn't 😂
@@kjp1232 Yes I would
Indah sekali batunya
Sangat indah sekali😊👍👍
Muito top essa opala
Thats an amazing piece of natural history and that old miner is one helluva bullshitter as well. Ill bet hes fun around the campfire.
Worth more than a million usd
Who knows! We aren't looking to sell it at the moment, and I'm not sure we'd put a 7-figure price tag on it (though if someone wants to offer a million, I doubt we'd turn it down!)
100 Millionen Dollar mindestens.
That's one amazing boulder real quality and one lucky owner.
I know that even small quality Opal can fetch a hefty price from jewelers. How much would a giant of this magnitude be worth on the open market. Anyone have a notion? I had no idea something like this could actually exist on mother Earth. Unbelievable.
100$
Hi there! Opals can range hugely. This is definitely a beast, and Rob doesn’t care to sell it right now, so… priceless?
Ich schätze Zwischen 100 =150 Millionen Dollar.
@@sexokinik8463 That is a lot of money. My next question if you feel able to answer it. Would be. If the whole rock Although fractured in to various segments were To be sold to an opel dealer or an opel jewel manufacturer. Would you surmise the individual pieces should they all be fashioned then sold. Would the combined sum exceed the original purchase price by a modest profit a fair profit or an absolute mind altering mouth watering life changing fly me to the moon profit in excess of Triple the original price or more. My brain simply cannot comprehend the possible numbers that may be involved.
If yourself or others can give me an idea I would greatly appreciate it. I cannot explain my fascination on this bizarre quest of mine but it is an itch that requires scratching. Thanks in advance.