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The Andamooka Opal is a famous opal which was presented to Queen Elizabeth II in 1954 on the occasion of her first visit to South Australia. The opal was mined in Andamooka in 1949. The opal was cut and polished by John Altmann to a weight of 203 carats (40.6 g).
Andamooka in South Australia is also a major producer of matrix opal, crystal opal, and black opal. Another Australian town, Lightning Ridge in New South Wales, is the main source of black opal, opal containing a predominantly dark background (dark gray to blue-black displaying the play of color), collected from the Griman Creek Formation. [31]
Opal was discovered there in 1930, [11] and the town developed out of the scattered miners' camps which established in the area. An Andamooka Opal Fields Post Office was not opened until 13 January 1947, and was renamed Andamooka in 1990. [12] The road into Andamooka was sealed in the 1990s, some remaining roads in the town are still unsealed.
In fact, as it gets darker around the opal, the opal appears ever more vibrant. The stone's vivid and sparkly nature is in stark contrast to Coober Pedy, Australia where it was discovered.
Opallionectes andamookaensis (meaning "the opal swimmer from Andamooka") is the name given to a 5 m (16 ft) long cryptoclidian plesiosaur, which is thought to have lived during the early Cretaceous period (Lower middle Aptian), 115 million years ago, in shallow seas covering what is now Australia.
Andamooka Opal, presented to Queen Elizabeth II, also known as the Queen's Opal; Flame Queen Opal; Galaxy Opal; Halley's Comet Opal, the world's largest uncut black opal; Olympic Australis Opal, reported to be the largest and most valuable gem opal ever found