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Wed, 16 Sept · AWST
Teals
Opal

Loose opal at auction in Australia

No buyer's premium. Your winning bid is the price of the lot, GST included.

Opal open for bidding

No opal lots are currently listed for bidding. Check the auction board for future catalogues. The session board lists every catalogue you can browse and bid on early.

What to look for in opal

Opal is Australia's national gemstone and the country remains the reference source for black and boulder opal. It is graded on play of colour rather than on clarity, which puts it outside the vocabulary used for every other stone in the catalogue.

The construction matters as well as the colour. Read whether the lot is described as solid opal, a doublet or a triplet, together with its condition and treatment notes. Do not infer construction from a photograph alone.

  • Whether it is a solid stone, a doublet or a triplet.
  • The colour play across the whole face, not only at the angle it was photographed from.
  • Body tone, which is the dark-to-light scale opal is graded against.

What opal has sold for at Teals

2 opal lots sold, realising between $7 and $16, with a median of $11.50. These are hammer prices, GST included, with no buyer’s premium added on top.

Recorded hammer prices, not valuations or predictions of future results. Delivery is additional.

6.89ct Orange Oval Fire Opal
Sold for $16
5.57ct Light Blue Freeform Opal Doublet
Sold for $7

Reading on opal

Natural and lab-grown: read the distinction

Origin is part of a stone's description. Read it alongside colour, clarity, cut and treatment, without treating the label as a price forecast.

Eye-clean, or included

What these clarity descriptions tell you, and why the photographs and lot notes still matter.