Cutting a 468ct Specimen Grade Ethiopian Opal for my Client

Simply put, Specimen grade ethiopian opals are mean to be just that: A specimen. You look at it. You have to keep it in water at all times if you want it to remain free of any cracks or crazing.

In this video, I am cutting and polishing an opal for a client who sent me their stone after it cracked due to being left to dry out.

We started with a 468 carat chunk and after removing all of the host material and previous cracks were left with a piece of opal weighing 164 carats.
Even though this stone was going to be kept in water, I polished all the way to 3000 grit per their request.