This aesthetic, colorful specimen is a fossil bivalve animal that has been completely replaced by opal, a rare occurrence in the famous opal beds of Coober Pedy, Australia. These are Cretaceous aged fossils, about 100 million years old! Most simply do not have such strong jewelry-grade play of color as this one, which is actually quite nice for even making into a pendant or jewelry object. It is one of the best thumbnail-sized mineral specimen-quality examples that we have had for sale, for the combination of size/quality/color/completeness. We do not get these often. Every few years, we might find an opal source willing to sell a few reasonably rather than chop them up to pieces for jewelry, but they are, and always have been, expensive as they are also gem materials.
Comments