About Us

Thank you for coming and visiting our site!

My name is Kent and I came to Australia back in 1995 from America. My journey and obsession with opal began in that same year. The very next year I registered FlashOpal as a business. I started off just cutting loose opal for jewellers back home in the states where I would send off large parcels of opal for them to choose from.  Doing business in this fashion taught me what to look for when buying rough opal. Within three years I was catering to around 160 custom jewellery shops. Back in the day, I would stay up all night on the phone talking with my jewellers and by day I would cut opal.  In my second year I moved over a million dollars in stone, which is not bad for a guy cutting with old machines in a tin shed. The key mechanism to making it in the opal trade is to stay honest and true to your miners and buyers and only deal in the best quality stone.

Many years have passed from the old days in South Australia. Now we live in Queensland, the tin shed is bigger and the machines are newer. The one thing that has not changed is my passion for cutting opal. When the economy slowed in 2000, the gem stone industry really slowed down as well.  I learned metal smithing and the art of setting gemstones to help move the loose opal along. Today I have a complete lab testing facility located in my home.

Through my whole life I have always been one to cut through all the crap and get to the source of something. My involvement in the gem industry began in wholesaling, and then progressed to cutting, becoming a goldsmith, gemologist & opal classifier and now a part time miner. Well, what I have on offer here is a chance for you to get right to the source, to cut through the crap and save yourself some money.

Thank you for caring enough to read this and looking at our products. We look forward to hearing from you in the future. Best Regards.... Kent.

Digging at Lightning Ridge
Kent digging at Lightning Ridge
Kent and son Jason