Though Australia is the best known opal producer in the world, there are really quite a large number of places that produce at least limited quantities of precious opals. Mexico is famous for its red-based fire opals, the Virgin Valley region of Nevada produces beautiful fiery opal limb casts, with opal replacing wood once buried beneath ashy soil in highland lakes, and a new major source of the gemstone has recently emerged in Ethiopia. I made the crown above using sterling silver and, if I recall correctly, 27 opal triplets from Spencer, Idaho. This is how I've been making my living for a couple of decades now, and more importantly, its how I pay my way (sporadically) through a PhD program and afford to do a little science. This piece represents about 60 hours of work. Here is one of many (nearly randomly chosen) links to the Spencer area opal mines in case you would like to learn more about these amazing stones: http://www.spenceropalmines.com/About-Idaho-Opal.html
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