In less than half an hour, a Toyota Prado was driving.

This Japanese car has a very market in Arizona. Although its safety factor is lower than that of the same series of cars, it has fewer problems, less oil, and easy maintenance.

Arizona has many deserts and the roads are often flat. Toyota Prado is very good at running and has a large space inside, which is very suitable for such an environment.

Boss Owen, who was big belly, got off the car and shook hands with Li Du very formally. His attitude was much more respectful than before: "Li, I'm very happy to receive a call from your store to talk. Also, are you really not kidding?"

Li Du waved with a smile, and Godzilla tried hard and carried out the safe in the car.

Dao came over and opened the safe. There were a bunch of small boxes inside. When he opened the box, he was full of gems of brilliant light.

Its color is like fire, its light is gorgeous and beautiful, it is Opal.

Seeing these gems, Owen was moved: "God, you did it! Have you dug up the Opal mine?"

Li Du smiled and said, "It's just that I'm lucky."

Irving's shop is in Winslow, an old-style jewelry store with oak texture and looks old. There are several old kerosene lamps hanging at the door.

Sophie said curiously: "We passed by here, but thought it was an antique shop."

Owen smiled and said, "In fact, this was an antique shop before. Since my dad, our business has been over-engaged, from antiques to jewelry."

Li Du's vision has improved a lot now. He looked at the kerosene chandelier hanging under the eaves of the door and said, "They are not props, but real antiques, right?"

Speaking of these chandeliers, Owen showed a proud smile on his face and said, "Yes, man, I have to say, your eyes are great."

"These four chandeliers have been passed down from my ancestors, and have a history of at least two hundred years. This is the signature of our store."

Sophie said in surprise: "Two hundred years? My God, Arizona was not part of America at that time."

Owen said proudly: "When our family came to Winslow, it was still a wilderness, and even the entire state of Arizona was a big wilderness. It gradually spread here."

Compared to the antique shop, the decoration inside is much more modern.

The overall deployment of the store is a bit like a maze, with bulletproof glass counters arranged in a circle, and you can see the counters when you walk inside.

The store is not big and the business is not small, with six employees working in it.

The counter is full of gems and ores of various colors, and there are spotlights at the corners of each counter. The shining stones are shining, making them beautiful.

Owen brought Li Du into the office. Godzilla and Dao stood consciously on both sides of the door with their hands on their lower abdomen, expressionless and majestic.

Seeing them, several people who were choosing decorations in the store asked the waiter: "What is this gentleman's identity? It looks amazing."

The waiters looked at each other, and they didn't know about this.

Li Du and Sophie sat down in the office, and Owen first asked them what to drink.

After staying in the wilderness for two days, Li Du didn't want to drink drinks, so she asked for boiled water. Sophie obediently followed him and asked for clean water.

Irving was busy greeting them, and two other treasure appraisers in their fifties and sixties came in to identify the gems.

Opals have been very valuable since they were revealed in ancient Roman times.

In the 1980s, when Chinese people's monthly salary was less than 100 yuan, the price of top black opal per carat was already starting at US$45o, and more than 1o carat was as high as US$75o per carat.

Of course, there is a prerequisite here, that is, the top black opal.

In recent years, the value of jewelry has further increased due to the peaceful overall global situation.

In the past 10 years, the appreciation of opal has been around 10 times. The 50 carat opal raw material stone sold for 50,000 yuan a year is now sold at about 250,000 US dollars, equivalent to 5,000 US dollars per carat.

As the value of opal continues to rise and output gradually declines, some fakes appeared on the market, such as patch opal and synthetic opal, and appraisers are here to do this job.

Drinking water, Li Du asked, "Is there a lot of fake opals?"

"Many, but not to deceive customers, but have become a new decoration material. Many people cannot afford natural opals and choose to buy artificial opals because they are also beautiful."

It is very simple to identify the authenticity of opals, which is much simpler than identifying diamonds, rubies, etc., and merchants will not use this thing to fool customers.

Therefore, when purchasing, the merchant will explain that it is a piecewise or synthetic opal. These opals are of low value and have the beauty of opals, which can attract many consumers.

The two appraisers have a quick appraisal. After each appraisal, they will write an evaluation on a small card instead of just saying the truth or falsehood.

Li Du didn't know much about Opal, and just took this opportunity to learn. He followed two appraisers to keep watching their evaluations and inquiries.

Opal has a low hardness, which is comparable to glass, and has a glass-to-resin luster, which is a crystalline state of amorphous plastid.

The appraiser uses two methods of identification, physics and chemistry, and physical identification requires a large-magnification magnifying glass.

"Look, if you enlarge the color of the natural opal is irregularly flake-like, with flat and blurry boundaries, and a silky-like appearance on the surface."

"Looking at this, through the optical display mirror, natural opalite has a special optical effect, this is the illusion color effect, this is the cat's eye effect."

"The cat's eye effect is rare. Once it appears, it proves that the value of this opal is very high, and it has to be taken out separately to bargain."

The appraiser not only identifies authenticity, but also identifies the grade of gems.

There are many options for the classification of opal grades. The common ones are divided according to the body color and the number of color changing colors, such as single color, three color, five color, seven color and other varieties.

Among them, generally speaking, the more the number of color changes, the greater the intensity of color changes, and the higher the value.

In addition, other factors should be considered in the grading, such as embryo tone, brightness, pattern style, color layer thickness, defect status and color change game, which all play an important role in the value assessment of opal.

Li Du still underestimated this kind of gem. He had never heard of it in China before, so he thought it was a niche thing and it was easy to learn related knowledge.

In fact, this is not the case at all. He knows little about Opal, not because this gem is low in popularity, but because it has not opened up the Chinese market.

Due to historical and cultural reasons, Chinese people prefer jade and jadeite, and other gems are difficult to open up the market.

But in other places, such as Europe, the United States, Japan and even Hong Kong, the Opal has a very high awareness and the market is relatively mature.

Even half a century ago, the high-quality black opals that were now present in Australia would not enter the civilian market at all, but would be dedicated to the British royal family, nobles, or sold to top European and American chaebol tycoons. At that time, this was a special product for the rich and nobles.
Chapter completed!