The Real Cost of Australian Opal Jewellery — Why Ours Is Fair, Not Inflated

When it comes to Australian opal jewellery, prices can vary wildly — sometimes by thousands. You might see a similar-looking piece selling elsewhere for triple the price and wonder, what’s the catch?

The catch is that most jewellers don’t make their jewellery — they buy from someone who did. Each step adds a mark-up: the miner sells to a cutter, who sells to a wholesaler, who sells to a retailer, who sells to you. By the time it reaches the display case, the same stone has been sold several times over.

At Iona Opal Australia, that chain stops with us. We cut, shape, polish, and set our pieces ourselves right here in our Townsville studio. The price you see includes:

• The cost of the raw opal, sourced ethically from trusted Australian miners.

• The hours of hand-cutting and polishing to reveal the stone’s natural fire.

• The solid gold or sterling silver setting, designed and almost always made locally.

• And a lifetime of knowledge, care, and craftsmanship.

That’s it — no hidden costs, no inflated retail margins, and no imported mass production.

Our goal has never been to sell the most expensive opals — it’s to make genuine Australian opal jewellery accessible, honest, and worth every cent.

When you shop with us, you’re not paying for overheads or brand hype. You’re paying for authenticity, expertise, and the story of the Australian Outback — captured in stone.