It started with a three-Coke friendship in Mexico
By STU CLAMPITT
news@readthereporter.com
Dean Caldwell of Cicero has been mining opal and obsidian for six months of the year in Mexico for the last 15 years. Last year, he pulled an opal out of the side of a mountain that weighs in at 1,253 grams (6,265 carats).
Caldwell told The Reporter he started mining opal in Mexico out of boredom, and he learned much of what he knows from a friendship started over a few Coca-Colas shared with a man known as Grandpa.
Photo provided
“I was sitting in Mexico on a beach, bored, and I found out there was opal in Mexico, so I just started chasing opal,” Caldwell said.
Caldwell said opal mining is done breaking rocks with hand tools, rather than with explosives. He met the man who would become his opal mining mentor on day one.
“It’s a weird story, but I met an old man they called Grandpa on my very first day out,” Caldwell said. “I was working in this little gopher hole, chasing some opal, and he kept popping up out of another hole, watching me. I finally said, ‘I’m going back to San Simón to get some Cokes.’ I went and bought that old man three Cokes. If one’s good, three’s better, so I brought him three Cokes back. We just kind of built a friendship from that. He took me under his wing.”
Photo provided
Grandpa has carved a home into the side of a mountain at the site of an abandoned mine that had been closed for 20 years.
“He was 82 years old when I met him, and he had been there since he was 15,” Caldwell said. “For some reason, him and me just kind of clicked and built a friendship up, and he took me under his wing. If you meet Grandpa and you’re friends with Grandpa, then you’re friends with everybody in the mining community. I just built basically a friendship over Coca-Cola. I got lucky. He took me under his wing and he taught me so much. I had a whole life lesson just from that old man taking me under his wing.”
Caldwell recently mined what could reasonably be called one of the largest opals in the world. While the largest uncut opal is the Olympic Australis at 17,000 carats, Caldwell’s 6,265 carat opal is firmly in the world-class league.
When asked what he thought when he found it, Caldwell said he thought he was fortunate to be working that mine alone.
“I don’t get excited about much, and I was more nervous than anything because of the value,” Caldwell said. “When you first start seeing it, you only see maybe a quarter inch, something like that. You don’t see much at all. You have to expose it out of that rock. It just kept getting larger. I was nervous, but you know, I wasn’t overly excited. I really didn’t know the color in it until I got it on the machine and it started taking a lot of the rock matrix away and it really started exposing the color. You just don’t know what lies in that until you get that rock removed.”
After roughly five hours of work removing the opal from the surrounding rock, then another 20 hours polishing it, Caldwell saw he had something truly special.
Dean Caldwell’s massive opal will be on display in Noblesville on Father’s Day weekend. (Photo provided)
The rarity and value of this opal does not rest solely on its size. What Caldwell has is a stunning collection of color in one huge stone.
“It’s a museum quality piece,” Caldwell said. “I’ve been doing opals, like I say, 15 years and doing shows all over the country. The largest show in the world is Tucson, Ariz., and I have never seen an opal even a quarter of that size of this one. It has every color in the rainbow in it – black being the rarest opal there is, and this one’s got a black vein. The second rarest is red. It’s got a red vein sitting right on top of the black vein. It’s definitely a museum piece. When I get it finished, I’ll be selling it to a museum probably, but there’s no comparison in the world to that opal.”
You can see it for yourself at the inaugural Noblesville Gem Mineral Jewelry and More show at the Hamilton County 4-H Fairgrounds, 2003 Pleasant St., Noblesville, on Father’s Day weekend. You will find Caldwell, and his amazing opal, at the Gringo en Mexico (GEM) booth.
Hamilton County’s first gem show
By STU CLAMPITT
news@readthereporter.com
On Father’s Day weekend, the inaugural Noblesville Gem Mineral Jewelry and More show is coming to the Hamilton County 4-H Fairgrounds, 2003 Pleasant St., Noblesville. The Reporter spoke to Event Organizer Kris Kailholz about what you can expect if you attend any portion of this three-day event.
Kailholz
“I started doing a lot of gem shows in the Indiana area,” Kailholz said. “They’ve got a pretty big history. Most of these shows have been going on for 50 and 60 years. I thought this would be a good stage for one. What makes this one a little different is we’re doing jewelry and some other things like some coins and paper money and just trying to have something for everybody. We’ve got a kids section, too, and we’re going to have a pirate hunt on Friday. We want to get people involved in geology and see Mother Nature’s treasures.”
Kailholz said attendees can expect to see a mix of things from entry-level tumble stones to high-end gallery minerals like the Dean Caldwell’s opal.
“It’s great to have some local guys,” Kailholz said. “I’ve got another guy from Anderson. I really wanted to get the local people involved. Unlike most other gem and mineral shows, we’re going to have some, we’ve got a vendor with a collection of vintage and antique sterling silver and gold jewelry.”
The show will also have a build-your-own necklace booth.
“For $15 you get to pick your pendant and beads and string them up,” Kailholz said. “Also the pirate hunt is all ages. It’s going to be one of our vendors running it. They’re going to get some tokens that are going to be redeemable with the vendors to trade their tokens for items.”
Maeve and Evie Kailholz will be running a booth in the kids area at the upcoming gem show. (Photo provided)
Kailholz is emphasizing the family atmosphere by having his two daughters, Maeve and Evie, running one of the booths in the kids area. All kids (under the age of 18) will get a free tumble stone, and on Sunday, fathers get free admission.
The inaugural Noblesville Gem Mineral Jewelry and More show takes place at the Hamilton County 4-H Fairgrounds, 2003 Pleasant St., Noblesville, from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. on Friday, June 13, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Saturday, June 14, and 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Sunday, June 15. The entry fee is $5 at the door.
Don’t forget to visit Dean Caldwell at the Gringo en Mexico (GEM) booth at the gem show.
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