Unbelievable Discovery! The Finest of all Opals - Gem Matrix

today I'm going to talk about Andamooka gem matrix now this is an ordinary matrix it's a different animal about four or five years ago I bought this parcel and honestly I didn't know what to do with it it looks so beautiful I didn't want to treat it for fear of ruining it I was talking to Michael Ferguson good friend master cutter and mentor and he said just treat it what can happen well I've thought about it and the worst that could really happen is something beautiful like this would just stay like this so I decided to treat it so this video today we're going to examine what gem matrix is we're going to look at some examples of gem matrix we're going to treat some of it and we're gonna eventually cut a cabochon or two so here's a piece of this gem matrix beautiful bright colors in the background looks really good just like it is this green one is utterly spectacular perfect doesn't need treatment right not to me this little triangular one is very very nice and would make a beautiful cut stone well let's first cover the topic of what is matrix opal and how does it differ how can you tell it from solid opal well the answer is in the color patches you can see the color patches in matrix opal have a irregular pattern and this irregular pattern is distinctive because in regular opal solid opal the areas of color have smooth edges like in this Australian opal and also in this Ethiopian opal so smooth vej color patches what I believe is happening with matrix-matrix opal forms within sedimentary rocks and stone and these particles of color opal form actually between grains of sand or clay and that's what why they have this irregular appearance so gem matrix opal is matrix that doesn't need treatment that's my definition nobody else's here's a nice piece of this gem matrix parcel it doesn't need treatment and so it we could cut it right like it is and it would be fine this is the backside of a piece of gem matrix that's real opal on the back this matrix is very bright we can make a cabochon out of it and it'll be perfect doesn't need treatment so I have a the rest of this parcel of gem matrix I decided to just go ahead treat it soak it in sugar and hot sulfuric acid and four days later I was so surprised I was so surprised to see this black color the black color means it treated and is treated well I was really shocked and the color to me is absolutely out of this world I was well surprised so look let's look at the results of the treatment remember this piece well that's what it looked like after treatment this is a different parcel than the rest of it but it's still gem matrix you would call this one I don't I didn't see the the red in this until it was treated but treated it's really a gorgeous stone and it didn't need to be treated but wow it is really beautiful this little triangular one was good like it was but after treatment it's just spectacular look at the deep red the color is just astounding this is among the best opal of any con that I've ever seen here's a piece a little bit lower grade those lines or striations going up the side end up on the surfaces little dots and sort of get put a pinfire look but that was before and this is after and this one is similar it has these striations beautiful piece doesn't need treatment but look at this I mean how beautiful is that this is this stone is just out of this world it's just I'm I don't have words for it so we have this one it didn't need treatment right well maybe we'd have to rethink that it's certainly gem matrix and it treated so well it came out so beautiful there it is before hand but afterwards it's just stunning this is an interesting piece on the surface we see these little dots of color and what they are is there are these striations these tubes of of opal reaching the surface and forming just little dots at the surface I think I'm going to cut that one big with the side showing here's this one and look at this it's small but there are some fabulous stones in this piece no matter that there's a little bit of matrix left behind that black in the middle here's one for treatment and after treatment it's just gorgeous here it is what a nice stone and remember our green one it's was probably the nicest of all as far as color goes but afterwards it's even better but the burning question that I had was does the glassiness of the material affect the treatment regular opal doesn't treat at all that's regular opal on the surface of that one piece we have that's the interface between matrix and regular opal solid opal doesn't treat and in glass doesn't leak you know fill a glass and have water pouring out the side so I figured if it was glassy nothing could get in so it couldn't possibly treat but does it affect the treatment glassiness obviously not so we can't use that as a criterion I wish to judge how well Opal will be treated now this is my favourite stone from the bunch it has a thin layer of beautiful red at the top of a thicker bar of green and blue so this is one that I chose to cut there wasn't much cutting to do because I wanted to keep the same basic shape I didn't want to go through the red so I didn't want to mess with the surface too much so after working it for a while I just did a slight shaping on it I've got a little bit of a dome on the surface and finally ended up with this where I can see the blue on one side in the red in the middle one little problem although I didn't cut it much I cut it enough to take off the treatment in that area and so it had to be retreated this is another one that I chose as a candidate to make cabochon on I like the bars of color so I cut a slice of it on the on the trim saw trim saws won't cut you by the way unless you have put your finger right on the braid blade and press so here's the other half of it I decided I'd go and cut another slice off in make another cabbage ow so I'm had a little trouble here because there's a little defect in the base of this thing so I had to pick it up and do it by hand and just slice a little sliver of it off this is the first one the only thing needed on the back of it was just to remove that little nub which was easy to do then I rounded it out and shaped it and of course the treatment comes off so it needs to be retreated so four more days sugar and acid and this is a small one it doesn't treat real black but it's a beautiful stone and I thought it would make a good pendant or a ring and come to think of it I think it's best as a ring it seems to look very good this is the larger one it looks good as a drop pendant to me but it might also be good as a ring let's see now I think this one this one should should be a pendant and finally the King stone the nicest stone one of the nicest pieces of opal I've ever seen this spectacular blue green and bright red gem matrix just awesome so here it is the batch of treated matrix opal that's me turning the wheel actually I really believe that gem matrix opal is the finest opal of all and that includes lightning ridge black opal boulder opal everything thank you for watching and I'll see you next time

Channel: Pulitzer Opal

Views: 235,237

Rating: 4.8605213 out of 5

Keywords: drp, opal, gem matrix, matrix opal, matrix, andamooka, coober pedy, lightning ridge, black opal, diamonds, gems, gemstone, gemstones, gemology, jewelry, jewellery, black, sparkling, mining

Id: ohi-5UtWZvI

Length: 11min 3sec (663 seconds)

Published: Sun Dec 16 2018