Luxurious Antique Bar Brooch With Opal & Diamonds in Platinum, c. 1910

Did you know that jewelry with Australian precious opals has not been around that long? The first European to discover opals in Australia was the German geologist Johannes Menge. He found opals north of Adelaide in 1841 - but little attention was paid to these finds because they were not precious jewellery-quality opals. There is no written record of the first discovery of precious opals until 1872, and commercial mining did not begin until the 1890s in Queensland. Finally, in 1905 further opal fields were discovered in Lightning Ridge, in 1915 in Coober Pedy and in 1930 in Andamooka. This bar brooch, discovered in Rhineland-Palatinate, shows an Australian full opal cut into a shimmering cabochon. The stone shows wonderful colour reflections, especially in green and red, over a blue base colour. The opal is never "calm", but inspires with a perpetual play of colours: a small firework! On the reverse you can see the mother rock on which the opal has grown, which the Australians call "potch". The small brooch made of luxurious platinum presents the gemstone in its center on a narrow bar and surrounds it with a total of 1.44 ct old European cut diamonds, which enrich the delicate piece of jewellery with additional light reflections. The fine workmanship allows the special life of the opal and the diamonds to come to the fore.

Estimate:£2,433.51

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