What type of fine jewelry is made in Australia. What are the native stones and are there any special bargains in gemstone jewelry.

You do not say which part of Australia you are interested in - however, most of the major cities have very reputable jewellery stores.<BR>Opals are the most well known of the native stones - and these are found in the outback.<BR>There is also the famous and very large pearl industry in Western Australia - founded by the Paspaley family.<BR>Saphires and of course diamonds are also found in large numbers in various parts of the country.

Prue covers them all - it depends on your budget as to what you buy. You can get fairly cheap triplet or doublet opal which is a thin veneer of opal or you can get proper opal which is the whole stone which is much dearer. Black opal is the rarest and very expensive. The pearls from around Broome are either black or the usual creamy white. Argyle diamonds, from Western Australia, come in colours of pink, cognac, champagne etc and are very expensive. Any good jewellers in the main cities may have them.<BR>Kay

I'm in the jewellery industry (in Melbourne), and the best advice I can give is......<BR>AVOID TOTALLY all/any tourist type shops for jewellery and DO NOT buy any opals.<BR>you might be told what a great bargain you are getting and how much it will go up in value.<BR>the reality is that you most likely will not even get your money back in a life time.<BR>however, Australia is the bargain basement of the world for second-hand &amp; antique jewellery. but, caution is again needed. most of my peers unfortunately will sell you (ie) a garnet topped doublet set item as a sapphire or ruby; depending on its colour.<BR>My personal view is that you can buy some beautiful Antique Australian jewellery for very, very little money and are best found in antique centres.<BR>please email me ( [email protected]) if you have any specific questions......don't worry....this isn't for me to make a sale or anything; I just get so annoyed by the misinformation given to tourists often by the official tourist offices about the virtues on buying opals which makes us no better than the shoddy deals made in Thailand with buying gemstones and jewellery.<BR>By the way, opal doublets/triplets are of almost no value within the trade so therefore have a LOW resale value.<BR>Don't let this put you off buying jewellery here though because there really are some fantastic bargains to be had- just don't fall for the hard sell and run if you are told that what is offered to you is worth so much more overseas and what a lot of money you will make--its never true.<BR>Hope this helps, and good luck.<BR>Rik

We lived in Sydney for 7 years and I got lots of lovely jewelry in antique stores/centers away from tourist areas. Also, any shop with an abundance of Japanese language signs will charge much more than other shops. You might check in the larger department stores - Grace Bros. and David Jones - and see what they have on offer.

Rik is right. The Antique shops for second hand jewellery are the best bargains you can get in Australia and far, far cheaper than anything you could get in, say, Thailand. For one thing there is no heavy Government tax on second hand goods other than the 10% GST. The gold items usually sell for the price of gold plus a little and the gems in them have not been overpriced to the enth degree. <BR>I used to make jewellery, cut stones and go on the odd field trip and the only place you will get jewellery for good prices are the second hand shops, the opal mines themselves and the saphire fields. <BR>That is not to say that the reputable jewellery shops are not worth a trip - they are, but keep away from places like the above poster said, those so-called Duty Free Shops and those shops that display lots and lots of misinformation about opals. For my money I would be looking at coloured diamonds because to my eye they are the most beautiful of all of our gems. But should you have the time then a trip to the Saphire mines in Queensland or the town of Lightning Ridge where the black opal is found is not only a great buying opportunity but a terrific outback experience too. The saphire mining area can be combined with a trip to Carnarvon Gorge which is a wonderful place in central Queensland

talking of GST, any overseas visitor can claim it back-ask when purchasing.<BR>Thats basically a 10% discount so its well worth pursuing.<BR>Rik