Recently there has been some high prices achieved by Bonhams auction house in the USA when they do a special opal auctions in may-Claudia is in charge of the auctions and you may be interested to hear her comments
Dear Paul
Thank you for your email. I’m on deadline to send two catalogues to the printer presently and didn’t see your email until now. Here are some answers to your questions:
1) the annual World of Opals auction is held in mid-May. The deadline for consignments reaching my office is end of February. It takes several weeks to write and photograph the catalogue and we allow two weeks for international mailing and three weeks of circulation time.
2) the selling commission is: flat 20% charge calculated on the hammer price includes insurance, photography and online imaging. Flat 2% handling charge, calculated on the reserve, if the item fails to sell which goes toward covering the insurance and photography.
3) all conversation start with a photo. If it’s not beautiful, it won’t sell. Photos with carats weights and descriptions can be sent to my Bonhams email account: [email protected]
Tel+1-323-436-5437
4) for multiple images or large files and appraisals, they should be sent with www.wetransfer.com
5) Unique items do well: picture opals opals, patterned opals that photograph well with vivid, unmuted colors. Opals which have been published or have been named. Many of our collectors are building private mineral museums so they like items that have importance. However, being listed in the Guinness Book does not help. At the end of the day, it is beauty that sells. Free forms and triangular shapes can be difficult to sell. Ovals are the easiest to sell. Stones usable for ring sizes and pendants are beast, and weighing between 8 and 15 carats are the most salable. I try to check every stone that I am offered against a past comp achieved at one of my auctions so that we don’t get too off base with pricing.
6) specimens that are of a size which cannot be worn in jewelry are difficult to sell. Generally speaking, the larger the opal the lower the per carats price. Stones with too much potch visible are harder to sell, as clients perceive they are paying for “dead weight”.
7) crystal opals are difficult to photograph and hard to sell. Clamshells and opalised fossils are tough to sell unless they are very reasonably priced.
Let me know if I’ve forgotten to answer anything and thank you for your interest in my auctions.
Best wishes
Claudia
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