Come take a look at the opal we have for sale on eBay, there are some great deals to be had!!
OPAL BOOKS
Some of Len Cram's best selling titles, most of them are out of print and almost all are signed by the author.
OPAL INFO
Look here for general information on different types of opal, formation, and the like.
MINING INFO
These are articles about the opal fields, the opal life, mining, cutting, and whatever else we get a chance to write.
ESKIMO NELL
Who is that???
Suppliers of Quality Opal Rough & Spectacular Finished Stones, specializing in Yowah Nut Opal, Opalized Wood, and Lightning Ridge Black Opal.
In 1983 Barbara Vil McCondra (also now known as "Eskimo Nell") went opal mining in Lightning Ridge, N.S.W., Australia. In '84 her son Ray Vil went over to check on her. She put a jackhammer in his hand and sent him 70 feet below ground to slave in the mine while she shoveled. He traveled back and forth a few years mining and opal buying for sale in USA and then they hollered for his brother Ron Vil to join in the toil for the Queen of Gems. The Yankee brothers, as they were dubbed by the Aussie miners, worked together at The Coocoran while Mom continued her partnership mining ventures in an assorted number of claims: Leaning Tree, MacNamara's, Six Mile, Four Mile, Three Mile, Seven Mile, Gravel Pit, Bill de Boer, Harts and Spicers, Deep Four Mile, Pigs Hill, New Years, New Town, and Molyneux Rush. Barbara didn't rest when she returned to USA. She lectured at countless Rock & Gem Shows and clubs and for the American Opal Society. She is now on the board of directors as member-at-large and gives seminars on opal at their annual Opal Show in Anaheim, Ca. while her sons market the glistening black gems. Fascinated with all forms of opal they learned all they could around every campfire, in every pricing commission meeting, and in their daily experiences in the opalfields and the marketplace. Ray Vil traveled to Bangkok and Japan creating markets. Always in demand, her sons give lectures, too. All three took a big interest in the cutting of opal and developed a knack for grading, sorting, and pricing in a style that made their markets happen. Always keen on any type of opal, they bought Yowah Nut Opal from Queensland miners who brought parcels for sale through The Ridge on their way to Sydney. After ten years in Lightning Ridge, Barbara moved to Yowah, Queensland to open cut mine the matrix boulder opal that had caught her fancy. She also was very tired of climbing up and down seventy feet of ladder. Open cut mining utilizes heavy equipment to remove the overburden. True to form, they all learned as much as they could about the multiple forms of ironstone opal--- its mining, cutting, and marketing. By writing an article on Yowah Nut Opal as requested by Rock and Gem Magazine, Barbara found that the pen weighed so much less than the shovel! Thrilled with her newly found "word mine" she now free lances for magazines in both Australia and the USA spreading the "word" about her favorite beguiling, precious gemstone, opal in all its many fascinating forms. Intent on sharing the adventure and the facts, she has a number of articles on the E-zine "Eclectic Lapidary in the archives, and many for Rock & Gem. One of her most recent lectures was for the LA County Museum of Natural History Gem Council. The family business (Outback Gems) conducts custom opalfield tours annually in Australia making good use of their several mining camps, colorful friends, and the opal mines of course. Go back |