What's in a Parcel? How Opal Is Bought and Sold Before It Becomes Jewellery

Most people meet an opal at the very end of its journey, set in a finished piece and sitting under a light. But by the time a stone reaches that point, it has usually passed through several hands and more than one parcel. I spend a good part of my working life buying opal in these earlier forms, and it's a side of the trade very few buyers ever see.

What a parcel actually is

In the opal world, a parcel is simply a lot of stones sold together. It might be a handful of cut stones grouped by size and quality, or a bag of rough straight from the fields. Parcels are how opal moves between miners, cutters and dealers. The price is worked out for the lot as a whole, which means the person buying has to weigh the good against the ordinary and decide what the whole thing is worth.

Buying by parcel rewards experience. A parcel that looks bright and busy can hide stones with sand, cracks or thin colour, while a plain-looking lot can carry one or two pieces that make the whole purchase worthwhile. Learning to read that balance takes years, and more than a few expensive lessons along the way.

Rough, rubs and cut stones

Opal is traded at several stages, and each one asks something different of the buyer:

• Rough is opal as it comes from the ground, still in its host rock or potch. It's the cheapest way to buy and the riskiest, because the colour inside is largely a matter of judgement until you start cutting.
• Rubs are stones that have been partly ground back to show what's there, taking away some of the guesswork but also some of the potential bargain.
• Cut stones are finished and polished, ready to set. You pay for the certainty and for the cutter's skill.

I buy at all three stages depending on what I'm after. Rough is where the real surprises live, good and bad, and it's the part of the trade I enjoy most.

Why this matters to you as a buyer

Understanding parcels helps explain why two opals of similar size can be priced so differently. A stone that came from a carefully bought parcel and was cut by hand carries the cost of skill and risk at every stage. A cheap stone that seems too good to be true has usually had those costs stripped out somewhere, often by cutting corners on quality or honesty.

It also explains why genuine solid Australian opal is never truly cheap. The stone has been paid for more than once on its way to you, and every person in the chain has taken on some risk to get it there.

At Iona Opal Australia

I buy my own rough and cut every stone by hand, which means I know exactly where each opal came from and what it went through to become what it is. There's no mystery chain behind my pieces and no marketing spin about it. When I tell you a stone is solid Australian opal, it's because I held it as rough and watched the colour come up under my wheel.

Explore the collection at Iona Opal Australia →