Boulder Opal Necklace – Leather Cord, Yowah Nut, Milky White Window

This piece is a Yowah Nut — a rounded ironstone nodule from the Yowah opal field in south-west Queensland, cut and polished to open a window through to the opal at its centre. A milky-white opal core sits inside a deep maroon-brown ironstone rind, with soft blue-green flashes catching light along its edges, and the rind itself carries natural swirling bands where the nodule formed layer by layer underground. Turned in the hand it reads almost like a small polished pebble with a secret window cut into one face. It hangs from a plain black leather cord, drilled straight through the crown of the stone with no metal bail, keeping the whole piece raw and unpolished by anything but itself.

About Boulder Opal

Boulder opal forms as veins of precious opal within ironstone matrix in the opal fields of Queensland — primarily Quilpie, Yowah and Winton. Unlike black opal from Lightning Ridge, the opal cannot be separated from its host rock; it's cut as a single solid piece, with the natural brown ironstone remaining as the stone's backing. This gives boulder opal its distinctive look — vivid colour against rich earth tones — and also makes it physically more durable than other opals, since the ironstone host is harder than the opal layer it carries.

Specifications

• Stone: Boulder Opal (Yowah Nut)
• Shape: Rounded nugget cabochon with a cut opal window
• Colour Play: Milky-white opal window with blue-green flashes, framed by a maroon-brown ironstone rind with natural swirl banding
• Setting: Drilled through the stone and threaded directly onto the cord — no metal bail
• Chain: Black leather cord
• Origin: Yowah, Queensland
• Availability: One-of-a-kind — 1 piece available

Caring for Your Opal

Opal is softer than diamond or sapphire, so a little care goes a long way. See Opal Care for storage, cleaning, and what to avoid.

Provenance

Hand-selected by Joseph Bernecki, sourced direct from the Australian opal fields and set in his Sydney workshop. Meet him any weekend at The Rocks Market, stall under the bridge, Sydney. Read Joseph's story →

Common Questions