[Jewelry making - Article 00497] - [Orchid] Of Brazilian Opal & Motorcycles

[Steve Green]

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>     I replied: That would be Piaui in the NE of Brazil.  Not too far
>     from Fortaleza where I got my gem biz start from an Australian
>     opal miner who lived there. Steve G. 

    Rick, No I haven't had or seen hardly any Brazilian Opal since 1979
    when I met Neville the Australian guy in Brazil who got me into this
    biz. 

    It was 1979 and Chris Boyd and I were on our way north after a year
    riding our BMW motorcycles from Denver to the tip of South America -
    Ushuaia. While passing thru Fortaleza (eastern city in Brazil kinda
    near Africa) a blonde blue eyed dude in a Volkswagen started honking
    and yelling in English at us. Next thing you know we were his and
    his Brazilian wife's guest, having dinner with them and staying at
    their house. Soon after that he showed us his business, told us all
    about his Brazilian opal mining ventures and sold us $400 worth of
    aqua, opal & amethyst. Both Chris and I were down nearly to our last
    traveling money too.  We continued N on the bikes up  to Belem then
    on a boat with bikes up the Amazon to Manaus. From Manaus the gems,
    bike and us headed north on a very small Trans-Amazonica dirt (MUD)
    road to Caracas. It was rainy season and that road was a killer, not
    to mention that the Yanomamo Indians were still ambushing people on
    that highway in those days. Once in Caracas we sold enough of the
    gems to get all our money back and still had 1/2 the inventory left.
    A few months later we were back in the USA  and sold even more gems.
    Neville had a brother in the USA that I bought some more gems from.
    That is how Chris and I got our start in the gem business. 

    I wish I had some more Piaui Opal though as it was very nice
    material. And I too think it is harder (more compact) than any other
    in the world. 

    On another trip down to Brazil on Honda 750s in 1981, I went to the
    mining areas and saw how/where it was found. Very interesting. All
    about were square holes dug by hand. The holes measured about 3x3
    meters and were about 8-12 feet deep. After digging through what
    appeared to be an alluvial layer of rounded stones and gravel the
    miners came into a "clay" (?) type area that was seamed with white
    puttyish opal. This was very interesting as most of this puttyish
    material had fire - diffractive play of color. However it was soft
    as play-doe and easily smeared between your fingers. Very strange,
    especially for a newby to see. Of course there was no good mature
    firm opal laying about. That was either still buried or all dug out
    sitting in someone's safe. 

Regards,  Steve Green
Rough and Ready Gems   www.briolettes.com  
Fine briolettes in colored gemstones & precision ultrasonic drilling.


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