One of the world’s few leading women opal dealers Karen Lindley is convinced she offers the best price. In a largely male-dominated business characterized by large turnover but small profits, Lindley stays coolly ahead by starting a wholesale operation in Bangkok together with Ryokusei (Thailand) Ltd.

            The Bangkok office, which opened in September, serves Japanese buyers and other visitors who come here anyway for their rubies and sapphires, Lindley said in an interview in Hong Kong. “It’s much more convenient for them to buy their black opals here than to have to travel on to Australia. We try to bring fresh stock to Bangkok,” said Lindley, who will be here the last and first week of every month.

            “In five years’ time, nothing will touch Bangkok as the colored stone capital of the world, and a center of the world for opals as well,” she said.

            Ninety-percent of Lindley’s sales go to Japan, where jewelry trends have changed over the past 10 years, she said. Before, the Japanese bought only fine quality opals ranging from one to one and a half carats. Now they buy from three to five carats upwards of not only the finest, but also very bright and different color opals, she said.

            Lindley recently commissioned the Australian Embassy in Bangkok to survey the market potential of opals in the Thai capital. Described as comprehensive, the Thai survey posed questions to some 600 Thai gem dealers that included:

1.      How would you rate the Thai jewelry trade’s awareness of Australian opal? (High awareness, Low awareness, Unknown)

2.      In what quantities do you purchase Australian gem? (Commercial stones per piece: 100 to 300 U.S. dollars; 300 to 600 dollars; 600 to 1,000 dollars. Gem quality stones (per carat): 500 to 3,000 dollars, 3,000 to 5,000 dollars; more than 5,000 dollars).

3.      Do you have Japanese wholesale customers? (Yes, No)

A similar study involving a random sampling of some 500 Japanese was conducted some four years ago in Tokyo, where black opals there and in South Korea are symbolic of eternal love and happiness, according to Lindley. That survey, in cooperation with the embassy in Tokyo, took 8 weeks.

            Lindley’s one complaint is simply that opals have not been promoted like diamonds. “Today there is nothing like De Beers, which pours lots of money back into the industry. Diamonds have an 85 percent share of the world market; sapphires have 10 percent; rubies have 5 percent; and opals some 2 percent.” The New South Wales government has produced an informative glossy brochure on Australian opals while the Australian Gem Industry Association has published a booklet titled “Australian Opals & Gemstones: Nature’s Own Fireworks.” Both of these books are available for free from Ryokusei (Thailand) Ltd., which will sell calibrated black opals in commercial quantity.

            Top quality opals, the “queen of colored gems,” are a good buy despite their scarcity, Lindley says. Rising fuel costs particularly so at distant Lightning Ridge, updated mining methods and flooded fields mean more costly opals to buyers and end customers. For Lindley, the attachment to top opals is real. “Some stones are so gorgeous, just to see a stone again (after selling at), you really get a buzz (high).” In her possession are three cabochon opals that had grown from a two-feet long dinosaur rib. Buy them and you get real dinosaur fossil! Lindley has advice that goes a long way. The five P’s, she calls them. Prior Planning Prevents Poor Performance. Do a lot of research, try to find what your customer wants, stand by your word, run your business with honesty and integrity, and prefer customers become your regular friends instead of the one-off deal.