I hope you're healing up well, Saxon!! Be glad it's winter and not summer, with you having to wear that turtle shell for your broken back!! My grandmother broke her back at the end of spring one year and had to wear the same type of brace all summer long!! With humidity factors going into the mid to high +40C's!! She was miserable!! I can't wait to see you turn that Opal into a stunning gem, Justin! Your friend, the Retired Paramedic and Horse Trainer in Ontario, Canada, Jenn 💖 🇨🇦
Here’s to wishing Saxon a quick and speedy recovery! A broken back is serious business for sure. I absolutely can’t wait for the day I get to visit your country. Traveling to Australia and visiting places like Lightening Ridge and Coober Peedy is #1 on my bucket list 🤞. Justin sir, you were able to score some absolute rippers and I can’t wait for the new videos of them being brought to life by you. God Bless and cheers to you all !
I loved this video. Reminds me of my time in Lightning Ridge (where I also had the pleasure of meeting you Justin!) The chambers of the black hand is a fantastic attraction, along with all its other quirks like the castle, the emu's, the paintings on the buildings in town, the bore baths...I could go on forever. I agree, it's the best place on planet earth. Thank you for sharing Justin
Saxton I Hope you know that everything happens for a reason and God has a calling for you young man. I went throught something very simular. I pray that you find the reason during this time. Blessing and speedy recovery🙏🏾
Thank you for sharing your trip and quick visit to Lightning Ridge. From the looks of the roads I don't think your long, straight, and narrow roads have much on my local roads here in Kansas. 😊 I enjoyed your discussion with your son...at my age (73) I appreciate the generation's sharing and communicating...I try to engage my daughters as much as possible. 😊
So excited I’ve been watching for years wanting to get my daughter her birthstone! Finally today I was able to get her an opal from you!!! Wasn’t the best one as I couldn’t afford the one I would love to buy her but so happy to finally get her one! I’ve been so in love with opals for a long time! Still searching for one here as we do have opals in Louisiana but they are hard to find it seems. In a sandstone like matrix. Just wanted to say thanks for creating a gem suitable for us to afford and be able to make a dream come true!
Such an awesome video. So much enjoy seeing the journey. It hard to imagine the experience of finding such beautiful material there. Thank you for sharing this adventure. That shell was incredible!
father and son, such a wonderful connection you have. My goodness, hope his back heal nicely! Thanks for sharing. Can't wait to see how the new stones turn out.
Thank you Justin for the adventure , seeing some Opal mines and beautiful scenery ! Praying that Saxon is healing well , will soon be up and going again ! Saxon is coming along pretty well with cutting and polishing Opals !
I had a 2nd Great Uncle, from Ireland, who went to Australia and became an Opal Miner, and within 6 months after arriving, he passed in an Opal Mine Collapse, at 24 years old. I have so much respect for the Miners! Then to you guys, who polish them!
So good to see Saxon hope he is healing up well. Justin & Tamika what a long drive to lighting Ridge looks like an amazing place to visit! Can’t wait to see Justin cut the two beauties!!!👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻❣️
Rod, they have some beautiful opal in Mexico too. Not black but I love them myself. Had my first wife set up nicely with some milky white opals that had great reds, blues, greens and orange fire in them. Ring, necklace, and earrings that were great together.
@@markpashia7067 Yeah I know!! I went to an opal mine myself here in Magdalena - Jalisco which is known for its opals but I just found regular, low quality ones :( had fun pretending to be a pickaxe miner though xD.
What a great tour of the mine and very interesting information about how the opal is formed. I can't wait to see how the fossil stone turns out. The two you showed are extremely brilliant. God bless!
nice score on the clam shell,your country has amazing lapidary materials.I enjoy cabbing the hard jaspers,agates and anything else that shows up in the states!
6m in and i have to say, that black hand mine is amazing and ive learnt more from the guy talking about how opal forms than ive learned from 11 seasons of opal hunters, despite them telling me how seam opal is formed every single episode lol. Edit...how the heck do...doesn't matter lol hope the youngun mends fast Justin. Good luck.
Get well soon young Saxon. That must be hard for a young man to handle being limited like that. All the best to you and nice work on those gems. You have a fantastic teacher in your father. I was very interested to see what Lightning Ridge was like because I had heard about it from a young age and all my life I have wondered what it would be like to visit, so thank you for showing us how amazingly talented the people are. That art gallery with all the carvings was amazing and so were all the other sculptures. So clever. 😀
I’ve only just come across this video - can’t imagine how I missed it! But just sending Saxon good wishes, and hopethat his recovery is going well. He’s certainly got a great support network!
Great trips lovely gems, and that casual dropped in mention the lad had a broken back... I can't even imagine the drama involved in that one hope he'll be ok, no matter how gruff we are, when our kids get hurt it hits the spot. Best of luck to you both and I hope the recovery and physio goes well.
Thank you, Justin, for taking us on your awesome and hilarious journey with you 😄. That cave was incredible!!!! All the themes were amazing!!! I had a blast. Can't wait till next week to see you cut your incredible find. Thank you so much 💗 😊
Hope Saxon doesn't have too much longer in that brace, although it reminds me of medieval armor. He could always say he broke his back jousting rather than flipping his dirt bike. 😀Thanks to Tamika for sharing the driving, so you could make this video.
I was wondering if he was bull riding or something. Makes sense it was a dirt bike. Thankful that modern medicine has come so far these days. Best wishes, Saxon. Justin I use to sixteen hours in a straight shot but now I am lucky to do seven, so I know what you mean. Going on a trip tomorrow that will be three days due to the new limits, but I need some beach time.
Glad your boy is ok Justin , my son is a grown man, but he will always be my boy and as parents we never stop worrying . Collected fossils and minerals ever since I was a lad and always had an appreciation for opals but have learnt so much about opal watching your videos. I find myself now usually making the same decisions when you’re contemplating the best way to shape the piece so I must be learning something . Always a pleasure watching you creating such beautiful gems . Much love from the UK . 😀🇬🇧❤️🇦🇺🦮🏍🦔🔭
Thanks for letting us tag alone on this trip. It’s so cool your son has a big interest in learning your amazing trade. I’m sure you have spent many quality times together over Opals.
I love it to justin.last time i was there, my young fella was so sick i spent most of the time in the hospital. And the nurse was one of the nicest people i ever met
Thank you for the tour of Lightning Ridge dear Justin and the information about formation of opals. Saxon is on his way to become a great opal cutter just like his dad, that's for sure! The two stones you bought was so beautiful too so I can't wait to see you preform your special magic on them! I wish Saxon a speedy recovery and best wishes for the future, greetings to you all at BOD from me in Sweden. 👋💎👍🇸🇪
I made a comment a while ago about bring us just this kind of content. A rough shopping trip up to the ridge! Thanks for bringing it so fast. It must have been ini the works already when I brought it up.
Hearty greetings Justin and Saxon and Tamika from Georgian Bay, Ontario. Interesting mine visit - I cannot believe how flat the land is and the type of vegetation as compared to here where I live. Those gems are over the top exciting. Looking forward to watching you work your magic on these. Best wishes to Saxon in healing his spine. :-)
Justin, I really enjoyed the trip to lighting Ridge, that would be a nice vacation to visit! The two opals you got are amazing looking forward to see you cut them, my Lamborghini moves fast going home like that!! Ha Ha! Hope your son gets better soon. Take care. Leo ✌️
I got to go to Australia my senior year of high school for 10 days for a football (American) game. I spent my entire time there on the sunshine coast but I would LOVE to go back and visit lightning ridge. Beautiful country you have there I will never forget that trip one of the best times of my life.
im so happy for u Justin, to see ur son follow u n ur fathers footsteps! i had to wear one of those torso braces bc i also broke my back but the only diff is I’m a paraplegic now n let me tell u, athe pain is unbareable. and i am trying to to do some cabbing work like u guys. i learned alotta stuff from watching ur channel. thanks again Justin!
@@blackopaldirect thanks Justin! this didnt change anything. Well at first it did but i beleive it or not i became a more positive person from an injury like this, than the person i was a before. so i really appreciate life now bc theres ppl in way worse situations than me n today i am blessed! n so r u guys. god bless u brother
Thank you for the journey. Im fairly new to your channel, I believe I have watched a few episodes in the past, I reconnected after seeing you on Karen's live stream a few weeks ago. I am a lapidary artist in training, have only been cabbing and cutting for about 2 years now. Semi retired at 65 so I hope to do much more in this field by learning from yourself and others. Prayers for quick healing for you son. Thanks again.
The fossilised shell opal in particular, is stunning. I'd be reluctant to do anything with it as even polishing will destroy the shell imprint. Both stones look amazing in totally different ways. Fab trip!
Those were some beautiful stones you bought and I love the shell opal!! Not sure what has happened to your son but hope he has a speedy recovery!!! I very much enjoyed your video and I gave it a Thumbs Up
I hope your son is ok. We went there a couple of weeks ago at Easter, from Sydney! I've never been, and my hubs surprised me with a trip. We joined the Bowlo, checked out all the stalls and shops, visited mines and relaxed in the bore bath every night, after sightseeing. I even got to choose a beautiful little Lightning Ridge solid black opal ring 😍 Gorgeous place, friendly locals, and plenty to see and do!
Justin the drop you showed which you said was 5.90ct but on your website is was 4.9ct is such a beautiful and stunning piece ! a stone worthy of being in a museum
The opals are really nice - especially the black one! Hope Saxon is healing well. Sucks that he couldn't join you for the trip to Lightning Ridge. He's definitely got the Opal cutting gene - he's a natural!
For the people interested a summary of the opal formation and some additional little facts: Opal is a natural form of glass and consists of Silica spheres, in Lightening Ridge three specific requirements need to be met for it to form. These exact "ingredients" can differ from location to location depending on the geology where you are in the world. The first ingredient in Lightning ridge is a sedimentary deposit of sand that turns into sandstone over millions of years, this is a permeable layer where water can seep through, and it is the source of the silica. Below the sandstone is a layer of clay rich sediment "the opal bearing clays", the clay is practically impermeable to water, and if water can get into it, it can sit there for a long period, this is the second requirement. The third ingredient is the presence of cavities in the clay, either cracks or cavities left by fossils. If the conditions are just right water seeps through the sandstones, dissolves some of the silica from the sand and gets trapped in the cavities in the clay layers. If the water sits there for long enough, the dissolved silica will precipitate out of the water and will form opal. All of these ingredients need to line up perfectly and this is quite rare making opal as rare as it is. When opal precipitates in cracks it will form 'Seam opal', if it precipitates in cavities formed by fossil remains it will form nodules or "Nobbies". If opal fills the entire cavity left by fossils you can even have exact casts of the organism that lived millions of years ago, examples are opal shells, opal belemnites, opal pinecones and opal shark teeth. Not all opal will show the magnificent colors we see in the stones Justin cuts his beautiful gems from. Most opal will be grey, white, colorless or black and is called Potch. If the silica spheres that opal consists of are the right size and precipitate in the right patterns, the opal will show the bright colors we see in the world renowned Lightning Ridge Opal. The size of the silica spheres actually dictates the colors we see in the opal, where the size that creates red is the rarest and therefore the color red in opal makes the stone more valuable. If the colors are in a stone with black Potch the gem is called a black Opal, and when the colors show red it is what Justin calls "Red on Black" which is one of the rarest gemstones in the world.
So Juston mate, Has Saxon decided to join the Biz? Hope so.. There’s nothing like family… 🙌🏻 Get well soon Saxon..👊🏻 The stones are bloody gorgeous..🎉🎉
Opal truly is the most beautiful gemstone IMO, and such variety too! Diamonds are so boring in comparison, they should stick to industrial and scientific uses, for which they are great. Wishing your son a speedy recovery! I cannot imagine how stressful that must have been as a parent.
Get well soon Saxon, your skills are getting better with the opal cutting you have the best teacher. Justin would you be able to do a video sometime in the future on storing rough and polished opal stones, what’s the best way to keep opal safe what would you recommend. Thanks for another great video.
It's so good watching the young fella learn what your father taught you.
Poor kid, hope the recovery is going well!
it's great to see father and son looking over some gems special times together ❤
Glad to see you and Tamika survived the opal field and the drive to and from. Glad to see your son up. Loved the stones and his work too.
I love these field trips.
I hope you're healing up well, Saxon!! Be glad it's winter and not summer, with you having to wear that turtle shell for your broken back!! My grandmother broke her back at the end of spring one year and had to wear the same type of brace all summer long!! With humidity factors going into the mid to high +40C's!! She was miserable!! I can't wait to see you turn that Opal into a stunning gem, Justin! Your friend, the Retired Paramedic and Horse Trainer in Ontario, Canada, Jenn 💖 🇨🇦
What happened to him looks serious
Id be interested in knowing as well
December to February is summer in Australia, so it was summer. Currently fall.
@Massangler1856 Sorry, I always screw that up!! Thank you for the correction!! Jenn 💖
Love this video. Thanks for taking us with you. Hope your son is healing up nicely.
Here’s to wishing Saxon a quick and speedy recovery! A broken back is serious business for sure.
I absolutely can’t wait for the day I get to visit your country. Traveling to Australia and visiting places like Lightening Ridge and Coober Peedy is #1 on my bucket list 🤞.
Justin sir, you were able to score some absolute rippers and I can’t wait for the new videos of them being brought to life by you.
God Bless and cheers to you all !
I loved this video.
Reminds me of my time in Lightning Ridge (where I also had the pleasure of meeting you Justin!)
The chambers of the black hand is a fantastic attraction, along with all its other quirks like the castle, the emu's, the paintings on the buildings in town, the bore baths...I could go on forever. I agree, it's the best place on planet earth. Thank you for sharing Justin
Welcome and glad I met you
Saxton I Hope you know that everything happens for a reason and God has a calling for you young man. I went throught something very simular. I pray that you find the reason during this time. Blessing and speedy recovery🙏🏾
Thank you for sharing your trip and quick visit to Lightning Ridge. From the looks of the roads I don't think your long, straight, and narrow roads have much on my local roads here in Kansas. 😊 I enjoyed your discussion with your son...at my age (73) I appreciate the generation's sharing and communicating...I try to engage my daughters as much as possible. 😊
So excited I’ve been watching for years wanting to get my daughter her birthstone! Finally today I was able to get her an opal from you!!! Wasn’t the best one as I couldn’t afford the one I would love to buy her but so happy to finally get her one! I’ve been so in love with opals for a long time! Still searching for one here as we do have opals in Louisiana but they are hard to find it seems. In a sandstone like matrix. Just wanted to say thanks for creating a gem suitable for us to afford and be able to make a dream come true!
Great video. So funny and interesting.
Such an awesome video. So much enjoy seeing the journey. It hard to imagine the experience of finding such beautiful material there. Thank you for sharing this adventure. That shell was incredible!
I hope you heal up quickly, Saxon!!
lovely video, lovely day. thanks, Justin and Tamika.
Our pleasure!
father and son, such a wonderful connection you have. My goodness, hope his back heal nicely! Thanks for sharing. Can't wait to see how the new stones turn out.
This was so much fun to watch, thanks for the video Justin and Co. :)
That was an interesting talk with the Opal guy explaining the Opal process.
Those carvings were insane.
Get better soon Saxon.
Thank you
👍👍👍😎😎😎
Thanks
Appreciate the LR tour!
Saxon’s skills are improving quickly. Hope he heals up soon. Cheers.
great cuts, Saxon!
A whole week 😭 but I want to see it now 😢
lol ok I'll be waiting until next week lol
Thanks for the vid and Jesus Loves You!
Wow, cannot wait to see those stones finished. Hope you are out of that brace soon Saxon!
Me too!
May your son heal quickly! What beautiful opals! Thank you for the tour of some Lighting Ridge attractions -- really cool!
Thank you Justin for the adventure , seeing some Opal mines and beautiful scenery ! Praying that Saxon is healing well , will soon be up and going again ! Saxon is coming along pretty well with cutting and polishing Opals !
I had a 2nd Great Uncle, from Ireland, who went to Australia and became an Opal Miner, and within 6 months after arriving, he passed in an Opal Mine Collapse, at 24 years old. I have so much respect for the Miners! Then to you guys, who polish them!
It is dangerous work and am sorry to hear. It doesn’t happen very often. thank you for the appreciation.
Saxon, pray you are healing well and don' have too much pain.
My wife and I love your awesome videos!
Glad you like them!
Awesome
So good to see Saxon hope he is healing up well.
Justin & Tamika what a long drive to lighting Ridge looks like an amazing place to visit!
Can’t wait to see Justin cut the two beauties!!!👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻❣️
One of these days, I'll make it to Lightning Ridge. 🤔
You got me into opals years ago bro, beautiful gems, greetings from Mexico!!!
Awesome! Thank you!
Rod, they have some beautiful opal in Mexico too. Not black but I love them myself. Had my first wife set up nicely with some milky white opals that had great reds, blues, greens and orange fire in them. Ring, necklace, and earrings that were great together.
@@markpashia7067 Yeah I know!! I went to an opal mine myself here in Magdalena - Jalisco which is known for its opals but I just found regular, low quality ones :( had fun pretending to be a pickaxe miner though xD.
What a great tour of the mine and very interesting information about how the opal is formed. I can't wait to see how the fossil stone turns out. The two you showed are extremely brilliant. God bless!
nice score on the clam shell,your country has amazing lapidary materials.I enjoy cabbing the hard jaspers,agates and anything else that shows up in the states!
6m in and i have to say, that black hand mine is amazing and ive learnt more from the guy talking about how opal forms than ive learned from 11 seasons of opal hunters, despite them telling me how seam opal is formed every single episode lol. Edit...how the heck do...doesn't matter lol hope the youngun mends fast Justin. Good luck.
It is such an awesome tour with Darryl, he definitely knows his stuff and is great at explaining every detail.
nice family bonding and friends as well. Hope to visit Lighning Ridge one day.
Loved learning how opals are formed! Another great video, thank you for sharing!!
Get well soon young Saxon. That must be hard for a young man to handle being limited like that. All the best to you and nice work on those gems. You have a fantastic teacher in your father.
I was very interested to see what Lightning Ridge was like because I had heard about it from a young age and all my life I have wondered what it would be like to visit, so thank you for showing us how amazingly talented the people are. That art gallery with all the carvings was amazing and so were all the other sculptures. So clever. 😀
I’ve only just come across this video - can’t imagine how I missed it! But just sending Saxon good wishes, and hopethat his recovery is going well. He’s certainly got a great support network!
Great trips lovely gems, and that casual dropped in mention the lad had a broken back... I can't even imagine the drama involved in that one hope he'll be ok, no matter how gruff we are, when our kids get hurt it hits the spot. Best of luck to you both and I hope the recovery and physio goes well.
You guys had me at the dueling purple-nurples in the thumbnail. Great content. Cheers.
Great video!
Thanks!
Love your Toyota. I have the FJ. Thanks for the adventure!
Thank you, Justin, for taking us on your awesome and hilarious journey with you 😄. That cave was incredible!!!! All the themes were amazing!!! I had a blast. Can't wait till next week to see you cut your incredible find. Thank you so much 💗 😊
Glad you enjoyed it
Hope Saxon doesn't have too much longer in that brace, although it reminds me of medieval armor. He could always say he broke his back jousting rather than flipping his dirt bike. 😀Thanks to Tamika for sharing the driving, so you could make this video.
Thanks for tuning in :-)
I was wondering if he was bull riding or something. Makes sense it was a dirt bike. Thankful that modern medicine has come so far these days. Best wishes, Saxon. Justin I use to sixteen hours in a straight shot but now I am lucky to do seven, so I know what you mean. Going on a trip tomorrow that will be three days due to the new limits, but I need some beach time.
Ive seen that gem and you did an outstanding work on that amazing fosillike gem. Really brilliant cut!!!!!!
I love these videos when you go out to the mine.
🙏
Thanks for the tour Justin, very interesting. Heal quickly, Saxon!
Glad your boy is ok Justin , my son is a grown man, but he will always be my boy and as parents we never stop worrying .
Collected fossils and minerals ever since I was a lad and always had an appreciation for opals but have learnt so much about opal watching your videos.
I find myself now usually making the same decisions when you’re contemplating the best way to shape the piece so I must be learning something .
Always a pleasure watching you creating such beautiful gems .
Much love from the UK .
😀🇬🇧❤️🇦🇺🦮🏍🦔🔭
Nice. I’m glad you get value from my videos and no we never stop parenting
Thanks for letting us tag alone on this trip. It’s so cool your son has a big interest in learning your amazing trade. I’m sure you have spent many quality times together over Opals.
Thanks for watching!
I love it to justin.last time i was there, my young fella was so sick i spent most of the time in the hospital. And the nurse was one of the nicest people i ever met
Love the "potch" plates lol. Red on black never gets old! My favorite opal in my collection is red and blue on black ❤️
Thank you for the tour of Lightning Ridge dear Justin and the information about formation of opals. Saxon is on his way to become a great opal cutter just like his dad, that's for sure! The two stones you bought was so beautiful too so I can't wait to see you preform your special magic on them! I wish Saxon a speedy recovery and best wishes for the future, greetings to you all at BOD from me in Sweden. 👋💎👍🇸🇪
Beautiful stones you picked up. I'm looking forward to seeing what you are going to do with them.
I made a comment a while ago about bring us just this kind of content. A rough shopping trip up to the ridge! Thanks for bringing it so fast. It must have been ini the works already when I brought it up.
Hearty greetings Justin and Saxon and Tamika from Georgian Bay, Ontario. Interesting mine visit - I cannot believe how flat the land is and the type of vegetation as compared to here where I live. Those gems are over the top exciting. Looking forward to watching you work your magic on these. Best wishes to Saxon in healing his spine. :-)
Justin, I really enjoyed the trip to lighting Ridge, that would be a nice vacation to visit! The two opals you got are amazing looking forward to see you cut them, my Lamborghini moves fast going home like that!! Ha Ha! Hope your son gets better soon. Take care.
Leo ✌️
I'm new finding out Saxon had a accident! I will definitely keep him in my prayers 🙏 and thank you for the field trip.
I got to go to Australia my senior year of high school for 10 days for a football (American) game. I spent my entire time there on the sunshine coast but I would LOVE to go back and visit lightning ridge. Beautiful country you have there I will never forget that trip one of the best times of my life.
im so happy for u Justin, to see ur son follow u n ur fathers footsteps! i had to wear one of those torso braces bc i also broke my back but the only diff is I’m a paraplegic now n let me tell u, athe pain is unbareable. and i am trying to to do some cabbing work like u guys. i learned alotta stuff from watching ur channel. thanks again Justin!
I am sorry to hear
@@blackopaldirect thanks Justin! this didnt change anything. Well at first it did but i beleive it or not i became a more positive person from an injury like this, than the person i was a before. so i really appreciate life now bc theres ppl in way worse situations than me n today i am blessed! n so r u guys. god bless u brother
Thank you for the journey. Im fairly new to your channel, I believe I have watched a few episodes in the past, I reconnected after seeing you on Karen's live stream a few weeks ago. I am a lapidary artist in training, have only been cabbing and cutting for about 2 years now. Semi retired at 65 so I hope to do much more in this field by learning from yourself and others. Prayers for quick healing for you son. Thanks again.
Thank you for being here
Well done 👍 ❤🙏…so awesome to be teaching your young bloke dude 👍
Looking forward to cutting the crystal, gonna be a real ripper of a gem.
The fossilised shell opal in particular, is stunning. I'd be reluctant to do anything with it as even polishing will destroy the shell imprint. Both stones look amazing in totally different ways. Fab trip!
Yeah about that shell. It’s not a shell anymore but it’s an outstanding gem. Stay tuned for the video
Really enjoyed this video especially all the art work and history and info on opals.
Glad you enjoyed it
Those were some beautiful stones you bought and I love the shell opal!! Not sure what has happened to your son but hope he has a speedy recovery!!!
I very much enjoyed your video and I gave it a Thumbs Up
Hey, great videos I have been learning how to cut and polish! I have a question, where can I get an Opal color chart thing😂 thanks 🙏
Wow, thanks for sharing that! From North Carolina and sooo much want to see the opal fields and maybe meet u guys as well lol. Great video!
One day
It's a beautiful tear drop fossil. I wish your son speedy healing. Thanks 💕🇨🇦
Thanks for the show; greetings from Granby, Colorado!
Very cool trip Justin. 😊
Good day Tamika and you too Justin ❤
Huuuuh, 😊 I know Les Hiddens the Bush Tucker man
Nice
I hope your son is ok. We went there a couple of weeks ago at Easter, from Sydney! I've never been, and my hubs surprised me with a trip. We joined the Bowlo, checked out all the stalls and shops, visited mines and relaxed in the bore bath every night, after sightseeing. I even got to choose a beautiful little Lightning Ridge solid black opal ring 😍 Gorgeous place, friendly locals, and plenty to see and do!
And so much more too. Glad you enjoyed it
Thanks for the vid and hope the back is getting better look forward to the next vid
What an awesome video!!!!!!!!!
What a great video! Thanks for sharing😀
Spectacular video 😊
Car door tour was good.
We enjoyed noodling with the kids.
Good times….
Glad you enjoyed it
Gotta get a personal plane ya keep making those long trips lol. Nice vid with great people and some awsome stones🤘 Hope kiddo gets well soon 👍
Justin the drop you showed which you said was 5.90ct but on your website is was 4.9ct is such a beautiful and stunning piece ! a stone worthy of being in a museum
The opals are really nice - especially the black one! Hope Saxon is healing well. Sucks that he couldn't join you for the trip to Lightning Ridge. He's definitely got the Opal cutting gene - he's a natural!
Thanks so much for sharing this with us, i hope your son has a good recovery. 👍🏻 👋❤️
Bloody marvellous ❤
For the people interested a summary of the opal formation and some additional little facts: Opal is a natural form of glass and consists of Silica spheres, in Lightening Ridge three specific requirements need to be met for it to form. These exact "ingredients" can differ from location to location depending on the geology where you are in the world.
The first ingredient in Lightning ridge is a sedimentary deposit of sand that turns into sandstone over millions of years, this is a permeable layer where water can seep through, and it is the source of the silica. Below the sandstone is a layer of clay rich sediment "the opal bearing clays", the clay is practically impermeable to water, and if water can get into it, it can sit there for a long period, this is the second requirement. The third ingredient is the presence of cavities in the clay, either cracks or cavities left by fossils. If the conditions are just right water seeps through the sandstones, dissolves some of the silica from the sand and gets trapped in the cavities in the clay layers. If the water sits there for long enough, the dissolved silica will precipitate out of the water and will form opal. All of these ingredients need to line up perfectly and this is quite rare making opal as rare as it is. When opal precipitates in cracks it will form 'Seam opal', if it precipitates in cavities formed by fossil remains it will form nodules or "Nobbies". If opal fills the entire cavity left by fossils you can even have exact casts of the organism that lived millions of years ago, examples are opal shells, opal belemnites, opal pinecones and opal shark teeth.
Not all opal will show the magnificent colors we see in the stones Justin cuts his beautiful gems from. Most opal will be grey, white, colorless or black and is called Potch. If the silica spheres that opal consists of are the right size and precipitate in the right patterns, the opal will show the bright colors we see in the world renowned Lightning Ridge Opal. The size of the silica spheres actually dictates the colors we see in the opal, where the size that creates red is the rarest and therefore the color red in opal makes the stone more valuable. If the colors are in a stone with black Potch the gem is called a black Opal, and when the colors show red it is what Justin calls "Red on Black" which is one of the rarest gemstones in the world.
great show as per usual - thanks a lot.
Glad you enjoyed it
Great video. Thanks for taken me as well to LR. Never been there, unfortunately. CO
A broken back! Dear oh 😢 Heal well, young Man! Sending my best wishes, from Ireland 💚🤍🧡
That stone and she'll omg❤🎉😊
Brilliant video well done
If these gems had the hardness of a diamond, they would definitely not be underrated, but as they are, they're the most beautiful for sure
So Juston mate,
Has Saxon decided to join the Biz?
Hope so.. There’s nothing like family… 🙌🏻
Get well soon Saxon..👊🏻
The stones are bloody gorgeous..🎉🎉
Yes he has
@@blackopaldirect Great choice. 👍🏻
love the number plate mate
Opal truly is the most beautiful gemstone IMO, and such variety too! Diamonds are so boring in comparison, they should stick to industrial and scientific uses, for which they are great. Wishing your son a speedy recovery! I cannot imagine how stressful that must have been as a parent.
amazing adventure summed up in 15 minutes!
✌️🐝➕
I hope your son is healing well!
I know what wearing that feels like. I wore mine for 3 years😇❤️🙏
3 years omg
Get well soon Saxon, your skills are getting better with the opal cutting you have the best teacher. Justin would you be able to do a video sometime in the future on storing rough and polished opal stones, what’s the best way to keep opal safe what would you recommend. Thanks for another great video.
Been looking for a crystal shell for ages. That one is a beautiful fossil. ❤
Looking forward to seeing the cut video for the two gems.
Heal up fast Saxon. Best time to break stuff is when you're young.