Queen Victoria had a tiara with opals. Her daughter in law queen Alexandra was superstitious about them and replaced them with rubies. The queen mum often wore it. perhaps Kate or Camilla will wear it since the queen didn't much after she got it back.
Buddy sounds like he spent some time as a geologist for the mafia. When he started talking about bad luck, I thought the other guy was about to get whacked.
What a gorgeous piece and I can't imagine how much effort went into creating this beautiful spectacular butterfly 💞🙏🏻 It's my birthstone and I have never seen an opal with that much fire but once and a relative brought our daughter a necklace from Australia with a Firey Opal much like this butterfly!! It was breathtakingly beautiful just as this butterfly!! Congratulations on your exquisite find and purchase!!!
I have a few and wear them on my wool winter coat each year. I'm relatively young, too! You see it more often in the UK than in the U.S. where I live atm.
@@cornishpasty4344 yep must be an English thing as I’ve worn brooches on my coats from a young age. I literally remember wearing a fur coat to school with a Pearl brooch when I was about 8 🙈
This is more beautiful to me than any diamonds. Opal is not easy to come by (Australian black) these days. I would treasure this one for sure. Plus, my birthstone is ruby, so it's a win-win!
So pretty and delicate. I am not really a " jewelry person" but I am a butterfly lover. My dearest dog was even a papillon, so I would treasure this for many reasons but none of them would be monetary 🌈💓
October is also my birth month (23rd) and opal is my birthstone of course. My late mother loved butterflies and I can picture her proudly wearing this pin.
I watch Justin from Black Opal Direct and he gets the majority of his Knobbies (uncut opal) from Lightning Ridge. These stones are crystal opals with what I believe to have a flagstone pattern and were most likely cut from four different knobbies. I wonder what Justin would appraise this piece at?
Justin is fab ! I've wayched a lot of his videos. Best bit is when he gets so exited he does the Haka ! 💎❣️🙆🕺🤸♂️ 🤣 About the brooch, I think there were two stones wich were split lenghtwise. Thus the wings mirror each other. The ruby body stone and the eyes bring out the slightest pink hue of the upper wings. That's very clever. Very Victorian...🦋 Love from Norway 🇳🇴
I met an Australian girl who had the most beautiful Black Opal pendant it was a 21st Birthday Present from her parents I have never seen anything as gorgeous
Then it was not a real solid stone, when you purchase an opal from a reputable place they should always advise never to wear the stone while doing the dishes. But doing the dishes a couple of times wont hurt any opal, it’s a life time of doing the dishes that will eventually cause damage to the stone, discolouring, cracking, etc. most likely your stone was a doublet or triplet, a stone made up of several pieces glued together, the dishwater has effected the glue making the stone go grey or dark. Opal is about the same hardness as glass, it can be broken, or cracked, but doing the dishes a couple of times wont hurt it, not unless you put your hands in boiling dish water.
@@nowirehangers2815 You are probably right because opal mining in Coober Peady really didn't kick off until 1915 which doesn't correspond to the era this beautiful piece was produced.
@@ThatOpalGuy Much less fickle than men are for sure. A woman almost always stays with her injured or disabled partner. Less than half of men do. I’m a part of the blind community and it’s shocking how many men dump their wives when they lose their sight.
that's probably not how opal forms... ✌️ but... I have been chasing opal since I was a kid.. my dad bought my sister a black opal in Idar Oberstein Germany (west) .. probably the only other place in the world to get black opal outside Lightning Ridge NSW at the time.... I have been cutting opal for pretty close to 40 years and have an extensive collection... matching stones in a perfect flagstone pattern... that size are beyond rare... kinda like hen's teeth... one of a kind WOW
on the Moh's scale of hardness... have you checked...I have... I have about 10 tonnes of rocks around my house and yard... several opal deposits... as well as diamond and ruby with which to check... when I was out looking for opal in the deserts here in the southwest US I was also cutting for a Lightning Ridge miner... all my Lightning Ridge material is put away at the moment... all... all of my Ethiopian and Indonesian, and at least 3 deposits of precious opal here in Arizona and New Mexico where I mine... cannot be scratched by a diamond... which means they are the same hardness... start at the top and try to scratch the sample with a known diamond... probably not this one though.... please 🙏 .. took me a long time to figure out... I read all the books too... I'm actually a geologist... but I have a broad background in the physical sciences... my dad was a nuclear engineer and physicist... I thought I had a chemical path to explain precious opal with all my book learning... a friend from MIT went over it with me for a year... he's a champion question asker.. I wasn't asking the right questions... I assumed I knew things... because I read them in a book... turns out the books are wrong... it's taken another 10 years of research and... I'm actually still working on it... after 60 years of effort.. it's probably not a hobby, eh? I'll keep you posted ✌️ that's a stunning piece of jewelry
don't start with a piece of quartz... please... or... try to scratch the piece of quartz with a known diamond... the Moh's scale is a relative hardness scale... talc is 1.. you can scratch it with a fingernail your fingernail is 2.5... so is.999 fine gold 3 is copper... called number one copper 4 is iron... like cast iron 5 is tool steel 5.5 is glass 6 is plageoclase feldspar... labradorite 7.. is supposed to be quartz... 8... topaz 9.. sapphire and ruby 10... diamond... scratch means about the same effort as writing with a pencil you cannot fake hardness but if you don't check... you don't know
I love butterflies too. I have one where the wings are on springs and move so sweet. I wish I could find a husband like that. he earned brownie points with me. I bought a small black opal when in sydney it s small but beautiful. My daughters birth stone is opal
I collect opal, have for many years, old opal is so much richer in colors than newer opals the longer they are worn the deeper and richer the opal essence becomes.
I once found a bookmark that was kind of similar. It was about 10x bigger and had a gold shaft about 10" long. I put it up in a tree (I'm homeless) for the insect friends and birds. It was stolen. I didn't mind though. You see . . . a bookmark is of books that is of words that is of "alpha & omega". ("I am alpha & omega . . . the beginning and the end."). The 'shaft' would've been like 'destiny' . . . the spear that pierced Jesus on the Cross. So, it disappearing was OK. But it WAS a beautiful thing.
Funny, I bought an opal brooch while thrifting last week. I thought the stone looked amazing and it was incredibly cheap. I have to give that a second look
Lightening Ridge in Australia does not have huge deposits .. Opals are rarer than diamonds .. Black Opals are like coming across a Unicorn in Central Park NYC
The whole myth of opals being bad luck was invented and promoted during the reign of Elizabeth I, in order to reduce the sale value, as it was starting to undermine the value of diamonds.
Of all my years in the trade this is the first time i see an "expert" authenticating a ruby's origin by its fluorescence lol. If anything, sythetic ones tend to fluorest more but that often means nothing at all.
What a beautiful item. The man made a great choice as a present. I can't imagine, however, that he did not keep a receipt for his purchase. Must be nice to throw around $500 or maybe $1000 or maybe $750 and throw away the receipt and any distinct memory of how much you paid. I wonder if he remembers how much he paid for his house. At what level does "Oh, yes, I remember how much I paid for X" kick in for him? I would like to be at this level of insouciance about spending.
Kevin is my favorite appraiser. He's so knowledgeable, and personable.
This is why I love Antiques roadshow for good surprises.
One of the most beautiful things I’ve ever seen. I want one!!
I hope you get your wish dear!
I love butterflies generally, but this is stunning! What a sweet hubbies to have purchased this for his wife. Good background info on opals!
it's worth more because he gifted it to her
the ruby helps too🫀 the heart of it
butterfly means we live forever
Opal from Coober Pedy South Australia not Lightning Ridge
Queen Victoria had a tiara with opals. Her daughter in law queen Alexandra was superstitious about them and replaced them with rubies. The queen mum often wore it. perhaps Kate or Camilla will wear it since the queen didn't much after she got it back.
What a gorgeous piece of art!
Can't not imagine Robert De Niro playing this appraiser😂
Absolutely! The role is made for him!🤣
I don't know....is this appraiser a bitter old man who doesn't like people who vote for republicans? Cuz Deniro sure is.
@@chairmanofthebored8684 Had to look him up. Certainly looks the part
Buddy sounds like he spent some time as a geologist for the mafia. When he started talking about bad luck, I thought the other guy was about to get whacked.
@@chairmanofthebored8684 I thought I was watching a documentary. I've heard tell the biogenic silica hustle is a messy business.
Love learning about jewelry from Mr. Zavian.
What a gorgeous piece and I can't imagine how much effort went into creating this beautiful spectacular butterfly 💞🙏🏻 It's my birthstone and I have never seen an opal with that much fire but once and a relative brought our daughter a necklace from Australia with a Firey Opal much like this butterfly!! It was breathtakingly beautiful just as this butterfly!! Congratulations on your exquisite find and purchase!!!
Brooches need a comeback. They are so pretty……I never see too many being worn, except for the Queen….bless her soul.
I have a few and wear them on my wool winter coat each year. I'm relatively young, too! You see it more often in the UK than in the U.S. where I live atm.
@@cornishpasty4344 yep must be an English thing as I’ve worn brooches on my coats from a young age. I literally remember wearing a fur coat to school with a Pearl brooch when I was about 8 🙈
If I had HER broaches, I’d wear them too!!!
man, I - ruby - would pay a whole lot more for that gorgeous butterfly, opal, diamond - - simply work of art
This is more beautiful to me than any diamonds. Opal is not easy to come by (Australian black) these days. I would treasure this one for sure. Plus, my birthstone is ruby, so it's a win-win!
This is white opal
@@biosparkles9442 don't think he was making a statement about the piece, pretty sure he was referring to the type of opal they would like. Smh
My birthstone too. I love opals and this is beautiful! I'd be proud to be given this!
I just love antiques roadshow!
Gorgeous, just gorgeous brooch.
So pretty and delicate. I am not really a " jewelry person" but I am a butterfly lover. My dearest dog was even a papillon, so I would treasure this for many reasons but none of them would be monetary 🌈💓
I enjoy hearing the stories. He bought it for his wife! Of course, he did! That is why it is a treasure. It is a symbol of his love.
Beautiful piece.
Stunning work of art and nature!! 👌👏
BEAUTIFUL!!!! Opal is my daughter’s favorite stone❤️
What beautiful piece!!! Stunning!!!
Beautiful work of art 😍
absolutely beautiful....
What a beautiful piece of jewelry.
they both seem like such nice guys, I really liked them both, they made such a great pair
October is also my birth month (23rd) and opal is my birthstone of course. My late mother loved butterflies and I can picture her proudly wearing this pin.
Such a wonderful work of art ..... stunning ❤️
Would be most excellent if it had a blue diamond or blue gem in place of the ruby Absolutely Stunning! I’ve never heard opal being bad luck.
Opal is my favourite stone, and that is a beautiful piece of jewellery
I love it when the antique investment pays off for the appraisee!
What a beautiful butterfly!
Robert deniro talking about opals is nice.
Absolutely Gorgeous
what a stunning piece! ♥♥♥
I watch Justin from Black Opal Direct and he gets the majority of his Knobbies (uncut opal) from Lightning Ridge. These stones are crystal opals with what I believe to have a flagstone pattern and were most likely cut from four different knobbies. I wonder what Justin would appraise this piece at?
Well, send him a copy of this clip and ask him.
Justin is fab !
I've wayched a lot of his videos.
Best bit is when he gets so exited he does the Haka !
💎❣️🙆🕺🤸♂️ 🤣
About the brooch, I think there were two stones wich were split lenghtwise.
Thus the wings mirror each other.
The ruby body stone and the eyes bring out the slightest pink hue of the upper wings.
That's very clever.
Very Victorian...🦋
Love from Norway 🇳🇴
IT'S GORGEOUS 😍.
Simply stunning! I love butterflies.
Just beautiful.
I’m Australian and I can confirm, Lightening Ridge opals are beautiful.
Gorgeous.
Bro break ups are rough - but necessary so you can find the right person for you that supports you and brings out your best
That’s beautiful
Stunning!
Opals are super soft stone. I wore mine washing dishes a couple times & that was the end of that one.
Lesson learned
I met an Australian girl who had the most beautiful Black Opal pendant it was a 21st Birthday Present from her parents I have never seen anything as gorgeous
Probably fake
You can get opal triplet rings that are covered with quartz and are more durable for everyday wear :D
Then it was not a real solid stone, when you purchase an opal from a reputable place they should always advise never to wear the stone while doing the dishes. But doing the dishes a couple of times wont hurt any opal, it’s a life time of doing the dishes that will eventually cause damage to the stone, discolouring, cracking, etc. most likely your stone was a doublet or triplet, a stone made up of several pieces glued together, the dishwater has effected the glue making the stone go grey or dark. Opal is about the same hardness as glass, it can be broken, or cracked, but doing the dishes a couple of times wont hurt it, not unless you put your hands in boiling dish water.
A neighbour of mine owns a opal mine.
They go there quite regularly.
I'm not much for jewelry but will admit that is pretty cool
Handsome man (the owner of the butterfly brooch)
I was gonna say that! Lucky wife!
Yes he was....😉 😉
Very Nice!!
Lightning Ridge has black Opal. I would say that looks way more like Coober Peady Opal.
Lightning ridge isn't all black
Definitely has the appearance of Cobber Peady opal to me 👍
It’s lightning ridge
My husband has mined there over 40 years
@@nowirehangers2815 You are probably right because opal mining in Coober Peady really didn't kick off until 1915 which doesn't correspond to the era this beautiful piece was produced.
@@timmanning5357 thanks Tim!
So pretty!
Yay, opal from Lightning Ridge, NSW, Australia.
I collect anything opal! My birthstone, and the most beautiful and interesting of all!
So pretty. ❤
I was up in Lightning Ridge the other day. The place is riddled with holes!! Millions of them
It's gorgeous.
Looks amazing regardless of price!!
His wife didn’t sound like she was happy with the gift.
I just love it …
Women are fickle
She'll love it now lol
His wife didn’t say anything negative! He just said she thought he paid up to $1000.
@@ThatOpalGuy
Much less fickle than men are for sure. A woman almost always stays with her injured or disabled partner. Less than half of men do. I’m a part of the blind community and it’s shocking how many men dump their wives when they lose their sight.
Just a inconvenient observation - When butterflies are at rest, their wings are folded in the vertical, moths horizontal. Beautiful piece, regardless.
I guess this was his lucky day!
Gorgeous 🥰❤️
I love that so much. So cute, so pretty.
Kevin zavian!!!
What a beaut
Beautiful thing
beautiful piece. interesting that rubies have been synthesized since mid 1800s
That is possibly the biggest opals I've ever seen.
So lovely...
Love this expert.
There's lots of TH-cam videos that show Lightning Ridge Opal mining ⚒.
Interesting stuff. I would love an Opal. It's my birthstone too.
Oh my god, how pretty!
Didn't know Ron Jeremy was into antiques!
He looks like a 50 year old Harry Potter in those glasses.
approx 85 percent of Opal is from Coober Pedy.. South Australia
that's probably not how opal forms... ✌️ but... I have been chasing opal since I was a kid.. my dad bought my sister a black opal in Idar Oberstein Germany (west) .. probably the only other place in the world to get black opal outside Lightning Ridge NSW at the time.... I have been cutting opal for pretty close to 40 years and have an extensive collection... matching stones in a perfect flagstone pattern... that size are beyond rare... kinda like hen's teeth...
one of a kind
WOW
on the Moh's scale of hardness... have you checked...I have... I have about 10 tonnes of rocks around my house and yard... several opal deposits... as well as diamond and ruby with which to check... when I was out looking for opal in the deserts here in the southwest US I was also cutting for a Lightning Ridge miner... all my Lightning Ridge material is put away at the moment... all... all of my Ethiopian and Indonesian, and at least 3 deposits of precious opal here in Arizona and New Mexico where I mine... cannot be scratched by a diamond... which means they are the same hardness... start at the top and try to scratch the sample with a known diamond... probably not this one though.... please 🙏
.. took me a long time to figure out... I read all the books too... I'm actually a geologist... but I have a broad background in the physical sciences... my dad was a nuclear engineer and physicist... I thought I had a chemical path to explain precious opal with all my book learning... a friend from MIT went over it with me for a year... he's a champion question asker.. I wasn't asking the right questions... I assumed I knew things... because I read them in a book... turns out the books are wrong... it's taken another 10 years of research and... I'm actually still working on it... after 60 years of effort.. it's probably not a hobby, eh? I'll keep you posted ✌️
that's a stunning piece of jewelry
don't start with a piece of quartz... please... or... try to scratch the piece of quartz with a known diamond...
the Moh's scale is a relative hardness scale...
talc is 1.. you can scratch it with a fingernail
your fingernail is 2.5... so is.999 fine gold
3 is copper... called number one copper
4 is iron... like cast iron
5 is tool steel
5.5 is glass
6 is plageoclase feldspar... labradorite
7.. is supposed to be quartz...
8... topaz
9.. sapphire and ruby
10... diamond...
scratch means about the same effort as writing with a pencil
you cannot fake hardness
but if you don't check... you don't know
tonnes of quartz... laying all over the desert around my house... it is also 10... I checked... more than once
✌️
desde la Sierra Estrella 🌟 en Arizona
mi casa es su casa
✌️
It recently sold at auction for 1.2 Million.
$3000?!?
I was expecting in the 10s of thousands being precious gems n metals
3:47 the estimated auction price is from $3k to $5k
I love butterflies too. I have one where the wings are on springs and move so sweet. I wish I could find a husband like that. he earned brownie points with me. I bought a small black opal when in sydney it s small but beautiful. My daughters birth stone is opal
Someone should offer this to Mariah Carey
She LOVES butterfly so much
She probably would buy it
I collect opal, have for many years, old opal is so much richer in colors than newer opals the longer they are worn the deeper and richer the opal essence becomes.
They actually lose their colors if being worn too often and getting bleached by uv.
They should do a video on that guy's blue sport coat, that's gotta be pretty historic.
Was anyone else disappointed with the final price? I thought for sure he was going to blow the owners mind with a huge number.
Cos the opal was very average. Surprised at the valuation being so high
I always heard opal was bad luck unless it was your birthstone. But I have crap luck anyway, so I enjoy my opals unbothered.
I wish the broach was mine. I soooo love it!
Ay, Ay, Ay, I'm your little butterfly
I once found a bookmark that was kind of similar. It was about 10x bigger and had a gold shaft about 10" long. I put it up in a tree (I'm homeless) for the insect friends and birds. It was stolen. I didn't mind though. You see . . . a bookmark is of books that is of words that is of "alpha & omega". ("I am alpha & omega . . . the beginning and the end."). The 'shaft' would've been like 'destiny' . . . the spear that pierced Jesus on the Cross. So, it disappearing was OK. But it WAS a beautiful thing.
What?
Take your meds
He's getting some tonight
That opal is from Cooperbedy not Lightning Ridge by the look of it, LR was not discovered until around 1900.
Wish they'd moved it inorder to see other colors
I bought an opal in Italy, and they had it behind the counter because of the "bad luck" reputation.
Robert deniro doing antiques roadshow.
Funny, I bought an opal brooch while thrifting last week. I thought the stone looked amazing and it was incredibly cheap. I have to give that a second look
Lightening Ridge in Australia does not have huge deposits .. Opals are rarer than diamonds .. Black Opals are like coming across a Unicorn in Central Park NYC
The whole myth of opals being bad luck was invented and promoted during the reign of Elizabeth I, in order to reduce the sale value, as it was starting to undermine the value of diamonds.
💙
Of all my years in the trade this is the first time i see an "expert" authenticating a ruby's origin by its fluorescence lol. If anything, sythetic ones tend to fluorest more but that often means nothing at all.
Well i thought today its higher than $5k, opals market is quite crazy today
My favorite stone is amethyst but opal is next.
I have my great grandmother's ladybug broach. This makes me curious. It's covered in ruby and onyx.
0:55 i wish Lightning ridge Had Huge opal deposits hah
What a beautiful item. The man made a great choice as a present. I can't imagine, however, that he did not keep a receipt for his purchase. Must be nice to throw around $500 or maybe $1000 or maybe $750 and throw away the receipt and any distinct memory of how much you paid. I wonder if he remembers how much he paid for his house. At what level does "Oh, yes, I remember how much I paid for X" kick in for him? I would like to be at this level of insouciance about spending.