Rising sun, I would love to see your ring. Opals are best cleaned with a wet cloth, basically water and wiping.
The question as to why Australians dont like opals is one the opal industry ask all the time! There are some possible reasons:
(1) When its your own home grown product it has no prestige. Its considered common.
(2) Fine opals have ALWAYS been very expensive. Many Australians have never even seen a firey black opal but instead have only been exposed to the milky cheap colorless opals. The good stuff is out of reach of the ave. consumer.
(3) Marketing & education is zero due to the way the industry is set up. There is no central body to organise a whole advertising strategy like Debeers did! No one associates opals with love & commitment!!!!
(4) Australian fashion is very understated and you rarely see people with jewells all over them. I also think many Australians shun color in their every day dressing, so opals have even less place in the scheme of things.
The above comments do not seem to apply to visitors to Australia though!!!!
The question as to why Australians dont like opals is one the opal industry ask all the time! There are some possible reasons:
(1) When its your own home grown product it has no prestige. Its considered common.
(2) Fine opals have ALWAYS been very expensive. Many Australians have never even seen a firey black opal but instead have only been exposed to the milky cheap colorless opals. The good stuff is out of reach of the ave. consumer.
(3) Marketing & education is zero due to the way the industry is set up. There is no central body to organise a whole advertising strategy like Debeers did! No one associates opals with love & commitment!!!!
(4) Australian fashion is very understated and you rarely see people with jewells all over them. I also think many Australians shun color in their every day dressing, so opals have even less place in the scheme of things.
The above comments do not seem to apply to visitors to Australia though!!!!
