Earth’s Curve has been with Mac for a lot of years. Its creation was stirred by an exquisite piece of opal that had been uncovered on a newly bought land claim in South West Queensland. This Aussie farmer turned opal miner literally discovered opal on top of the ground.

Mac spent hours giving this particular stone the time that it deserved to turn it into something worthy. When the Australian Gemological Design Awards came along, Mac decided that this opal could be a part of specialty pieces that the trade would appreciate. Earth’s Curve came into being. On the final night of its creation, Mac simply couldn’t take the pressure.

“I’m not going to submit it,” he said.

He had friends who knew what he was going through who urged him to finish it.

“It’s not good enough,” he bemoaned, “look here, and here and there, and I don’t have time to finish.”

They didn’t have the jeweler’s eye and weren’t sure what he was pointing out to them. All they knew was that he has spent hours and hours on this beautiful brooch. Hours had turned into days and days had turned into months. He and his wife discussed various names for each of his pieces of jewelry and this one, his wife suggested, should be called ‘Divorce’. Mac chortled and called it ‘Earth’s Curve’.

Indeed, it looked like the curve of the earth as seen from space. There was the curve of the planet earth with its exquisite blue and the black of space and the stars represented by diamonds. All framed in 22 carat gold.

Needless to say, on a night in Melbourne that the mayor thought worthy of attending, Mac won first prize. He was at home with friends reading the bible when the phone rang.

“You’ve won,” they said. He sat down. “I’ve won,” he said.

“Congratulations,” his friends said. “It’s your read.”

Mac was nothing if not a humble man.

On Thursday, 22 October 2009, Mac will hand over this precious piece to Brian, who is a local patron of the arts. Brian is quoted as saying that he had had his eye on this exquisite piece of Mac’s craftsmanship for some time now and we have finally reached a satisfactory agreement. The sale price is undisclosed.