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Opal, sometimes called the rainbow stone, is Australia’s national gemstone. Australian opals are renowned and highly sort after around the world and a very special memento to purchase as a reminder of your Australian vacation.
At Your Sydney Guide, we’re often asked by our guests on our private Sydney day tours for advice on the best opal store in Sydney to buy opal jewellery and opals.
But with so many opal stores in the city, some varying in quality, it can be a bit of a minefield (pardon the pun) trying to choose the best opal store in Sydney to visit for premium designer Australian opal jewellery and opals.
As local Sydney tour guides with combined decades of experience, we know the best places to go and have great relationships with some of Sydney’s top opal boutiques and designers who offer exceptional service, knowledge and an impressive reputation built over decades in the business.
On our private Sydney day tours, we can customise your tour to include some opal retail therapy, with a personally guided introduction to the best opal stores in Sydney. So get in touch with us or email hello@yoursydneyguide.com.au to discuss further. Or be sure to tell our favourite opal stores that Scott from Your Sydney Guide sent you when you visit.
But before we get to our picks for the best places to buy opals in Sydney, some background on Australian opals… (or scroll down to see the stores first).
Australia produces the most valuable opals in the world because of their exceptional quality, brilliant play of colour (the variety and intensity of colours displayed, caused by the diffraction of light), stunning patterns, beauty and rarity.
Australia supplies 95% of the world’s opals thanks to the country’s unique geological make-up formed over millions of years. Yes, opals are indeed millions of years in the making.
Though common opal is said to have first been discovered in 1849, with precious opal mined in earnest from the 1880s, Australia’s Indigenous people were likely the true finders many thousands of years ago with opal, which they call ‘the fire of the desert’, having great significance as reflected in Dreamtime stories.
Image: The Virgin Rainbow opal
It’s no surprise that many of the world’s most famous opals have been found in Australia, known for their brilliant bursts of colour from across the spectrum. From the stunning red, green and blue of the Aurora Australis opal (named after the light phenomenon occurring in the night skies of the southern hemisphere), to the spectacular rainbow-like hues of the Virgin Rainbow opal that also glows in the dark.
Image: Clockwise from left – black opal, boulder opal, white opal.
There are three main types of opal found in Australia – black opal, boulder opal, and white opal, each mined in three distinct outback locations.
The most valuable type is black opal because of its dark body tone that enhances the gemstone’s brilliant colours (the most popular opal colour is red, due to its rarity). It’s also rare as black opal is found only in a handful of places around the world. But the best quality black opal, and therefore the most sought-after, is largely mined in Lightning Ridge in New South Wales (Sydney’s home state).
The stunning boulder opal with its dazzling play of colour, is mined in the Quilpie district in Western Queensland, and found in ironstone and sandstone boulders millions of years old. Finally, white opal hails from Coober Pedy in South Australia and has a milky body tone that can feature colours from across the spectrum.
Image: The Aurora Australis opal
Again, it’s no surprise that the world’s most expensive and rarest opals come from Australia, predominately discovered in Lightning Ridge and Coober Pedy. Among them, the Olympic Australis est. US$1.8 million (AU$2.8 million), the Halley’s Comet est. US$765,000 (AU$1.2 million), the Aurora Australis est. US$640,000 (AU$1 million), and the Virgin Rainbow est. US$640,000 (AU$1 million).
The factors considered in determining the value of an opal are play of colour, pattern, clarity (presence of inclusions or imperfections), body tone, shape, size, weight, rareness and origin. Opals take on many shapes and colours (the name is derived from the Latin word “opalus” meaning “to see a change in colour”), so not one piece is the same.
Australian opal jewellery and loose opals can be a great investment so it’s important to know you’re buying from reputable dealers. So, to the big question – where to buy opal jewellery and opals in Sydney? Here are some of our top picks.
This world-renowned jewellery house is a must-visit during your Sydney vacation, standing apart as Australia’s largest retailer of designer black, boulder and crystal opal jewellery. For almost 35 years, Cosmopolitan Jewellers has garnered a reputation as one of the best in the business for excellence in design, manufacturing and service.
And you’ll be spoilt for choice as Cosmopolitan Jewellers stocks the largest collection of opal earrings, rings, pendants, necklaces, bangles and bracelets in Sydney, and carries only solid natural opals. It also offers duty free in-house for overseas travellers.
This high-end opal jewellery maison is built on three generations of opal miners and opal jewellery designers. Not only does Opal Minded specialise only in Australian opals, it controls the whole process, from opal mining at its own mine located in Jundah-Opalville in the state of Queensland, to cutting polishing, designing and crafting exquisite jewellery at their Sydney atelier.
At Opal Minded’s Sydney boutique, operating since 1989, a team of qualified gemmologists and registered valuers are on hand to offer advice on ready-to-wear pieces and choosing the right opal for bespoke designs.
Almost 80 years in operation, Altmann + Cherny is known as one of the world’s leading authorities on the Australian Opal and have played a seminal role in the history of Australia’s opal industry.
With a sharp eye for opal appraisal, company founders John Altmann and Rudi Cherny acquired two of the most valuable and famous opals in the world, the ‘Olympic Australis’ and the ‘Aurora Australis’ (both on display in Altmann + Cherny’s Sydney boutique). And in 1954, the jewellers were commissioned by the South Australian Government to craft a jewellery set featuring gem crystal opal to be presented to the visiting Queen Elizabeth II.
As well as viewing the stunning jewellery for sale crafted by Altmann + Cherny, including boulder opal and black opal pendants and rings, visitors to their Sydney showroom also receive a complimentary opal education session.
With a reputation of excellence in knowledge, design, manufacture, and service, Masterpiece Jewellery lays claim to serving over 100,000 people from all over the world over some 45 years in business at its high-end Sydney boutique.
While it also sells jewellery featuring other gemstones and pearls, Australian opals are a speciality of Masterpiece Jewellery with superb creations that “bring together the boldness of the outback and the finesse of high jewellery, fusing Australian opals with rare gemstones to create one-of-a-kind masterpieces”. And like other opal stores in Sydney, it’s not just about jewellery for women – men are catered for too with the likes of rings and cufflinks. The store offers duty-free shopping.
This family business established in 1972, boasts one of the finest collections of Australian black and boulder opals and jewellery around, and is highly regarded within the Australian opal industry.
Rockhounds offers a relaxed, personalised shopping experience at its Sydney showroom, with friendly and experienced staff with professional advice to guide you on purchasing the right piece for you or a loved one. Duty Free shopping is also available.
And you’ll be in great company with the company’s client list spanning celebrities such as Jerry Seinfeld, Anthony Hopkins, Santana and John Cleese, to foreign dignitaries, Prime Ministers, ambassadors, and private opal collectors.
This award-winning family business, based in the Four Seasons Hotel Sydney, has been working with Australian opals for almost 60 years and claims to stock Sydney’s largest collection of Australian opals. Ethically sourced and sustainably made in its atelier, expert jewellers at Giulians Fine Jewellery craft elegant one-of-a-kind and bespoke Australian opal statement pieces and also specialises in the likes of Australian South Sea Pearl jewellery.
Star clients over the years have included Michael Jackson, Rod Stewart, Sir Cliff Richard, Luciano Pavarotti, Hillary Clinton and Coldplay’s Chris Martin
Not only can you visit Cove Jewellery’s boutique in Sydney, but the luxury brand can also be found aboard luxury cruise liners such as Royal Caribbean, Azamara, Silversea, Viking and Oceania and specialises in Australian opal jewellery, pearl jewellery and pink diamond jewellery.
Its curated collection includes solid Australian black opal and boulder opal rings and pendants, and bespoke design is also available. Cove Jewellery has a passion to “craft heirlooms that celebrate life’s most special moments,” pieces that will be “cherished for generations to come.”
We look forward to welcoming you to Sydney for some serious gemstone shopping! Feel free to contact us to see how Your Sydney Guide can help add some extra dazzle to your Sydney vacation.
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