Pictured: Walt Wilson and the 130-pound "Gingko Log," one of the largest opals ever found
More than a quarter of a million carats of precious fire opals have been extracted from the Royal Peacock mines in the past twenty five years. Some of the better-known stones are listed below.
- In 1970 the "ROYAL PEACOCK", a fifty-ounce black precious opal was found in the Royal Peacock #1 mine. It was subsequently broken up into several smaller stones:
- The "LITTLE BLACK PEACOCK, a 20 carat stone. sold for $15,000
- The "BLACK PEACOCK", a 169 carat stone, was sold for $45,000. It now resides majestically in the Smithsonian Museum. Many smaller stones were cut from the 'leavings'.
- In 1971 more than $500,000 in precious opals were taken from a fault in the Royal Peacock #2 from less than ten cubic yards of material.
- In 1976 the rare, unique "PEBBLE GHOST" was taken from the Little Pebble mine. Since that time several 'ghost' opals have been wrested from the Little Pebble mine
- The Royal Peacock #2 produced the "LITTLE PRINCESS" stone in 1978. This beautiful black opal weighed 205 carats and was valued at more than $50,000.
- In 1992 the Northern Lights mine produced the "DRAGON'S TOOTH", a unique specimen with red and green fire weighing 52 carats.
- Also in 1992 the Northern Lights relinquished the "GINKGO LOG", a 130 pound opal - one of the largest opals ever found anywhere in the world. It contained about 30 percent precious opal. Scientists from Brigham Young University determined that the opalized log came from a Ginkgo tree. Hence its name. Modem day Ginkgos are found only in Japan.
Any opals you find will be famous to you. Click any photo below for a look at some happy customer finds.
Click the images below for a slideshow of famous opals from the Royal Peacock. Apologies for the poor photo quality -- a fire destroyed many of our nicer opal portraits.
