Lightning Ridge opal is world-renowned for quality and color, and this piece of boulder opal is a striking example. This is a dazzling vintage specimen of "precious opal" in matrix that displays true peacock colors of iridescent green and blue. The contrast with enclosing host rock provides perfect contrast as well as natural context as to the rock they formed within. The patch of opal measures 6.3 x 2.5 cm and the play of colors is absolutely spectacular against the variably brown matrix. The surface of the opal has been coated with epoxy rather than polished, presumably because the opal is a thin veneer and it is recessed within the host rock. The banded, brown mudstone host shows irregular concentric banding on the front and almost perfect elliptical banding on the backside with alternating dark brown and lighter rusty brown layers. A dramatic display piece notable for the matrix, as much as for the opal itself! 117 grams.