An Aussie man has stumbled upon which, unbeknownst to him, had been sitting in his garden for years. Gold Coast man Wayne Sedawie cracked open a 3.2 kilo rock to discover the "rarest" form of boulder opal which he values at about $1000 — although some say it could be more.
The incredible stone originally came from Quilpie, a rural town in , and was gifted to Wayne, roughly over five years ago. But because it was "too tough to cut" the reseller, who owns Opal and Gem Stone Auctions, chucked in his "reject" pile in his garden where it remained until now. "The current demand for rough opal" is what made him give the stone another crack.
"It's gone through the roof," he told Yahoo News Australia — and it's a good thing he did because it had "rare red fire opal" hidden inside it. "It's amazing. This one's actually got a film on top of it, so it makes it milky," he said.
"The more you go down polishing, the brighter it's going to get." Boulder opals form on ironstone in Queensland and are often cut with the ironstone left attached. The opal itself forms within the cavities of the rock and varies in shape and size.
Red opal, also referred to as fire opal in Australia, is being the most common. Because of its rarity, an opal displaying any red colouring is considered quite valuable. "It's getting harder and harder to find good opal in Australia" he said This one in particular is "hidden" in the ironstone "and really, everyone would just miss it".
It was a stubborn rock to crack o.