Absurdity of Believing that Opals are Unlucky.

Kaipara and Waitemata Echo, 22 May 1914, Page 2

Absurdity of Believing that Opals are Unlucky.

(By WM. BIG LER, EXPERT

LAPIDAHY)

The most popular thing In the

way of gems just now is the opal, Not that anyone objects to presents of diamonds, but the opal is enjoying a boom in the best society; The reason for this is that late researches into ancient lore have entirely reversed the old notion that the opal is an unlucky stone.

Many people crossing the Atlantic wear opals to "keep them from getting sea-sick," and insure them a sai'e passage While on the water j and the people most successful at the races wear opals at the course, and those people who are most successful in speculating at Monte Carlo generally attribute their good fortune to wearing a precious opal at the time they are taking a long chance with their good money.

The opal is composed of silica in

an amorphous state, mixed with water, and is in reality the same mineral as quartz, with the addition of 6 or 7 per cent, of water. There are many varieties—the precious, or harlequin, and the black opal (always the most sought after), the fire or reddish opal, which has also, occasionally, a fine display of colours, and several others. The opal is infusable before the blow-pipe, but gives off water and becomes opaque. This quantity, or factor of water, varies greatly in the different varieties of opal. Apparently when a gentle heat is applied to the mineral the brilliancy of its hues is increased, either from evaporation of its water or some structural change. But if application is too prolonged, or the heat too intense, the hues of the stone vanish, never to be recalled by science. The same results from the effects of heat are noticeable in other gems of greater density and hardness as the emerald, the topaz, etc. This mineral has been a wonder and a perplexity to the philosophers, and an object of delight and pleasure to the fashionable world for centuries.

The localities where the precious opal is now found are but few, and none of them were probably known to the ancients. All record of old opal mines is now lost, but there were undoubtedly deposits of the mineral in Arabia, Syria, and in Asia, whence the ancients derived their gems. The precious opal is found in claystone porphry in Hungary, but these famous mines were not discovered until late in the fifteenth century, and the country was quite unknown to the Romans. It is also found near Frankfort, and in Honduras, while in the enchanted little Isla de Flores (Isle of Flowers)y two thousand miles out in the Atlantic, the writer has seen some very bea,utiful gems. The best opals in the market today come from Australia. The precious opal is one of the most beautiful gems in existence. When held between the eye and the light it appears of a pale, milky, reddish blue, but when seen by reflected, light it displays all the colours of the rainbow, in flakes, flashes, or specks ;in fact, all the colours of the most heautiful gems are here united in one. When the colours are in small flakes, distributed over the surface, it is termed by jewellers "harlequin" opal, on account of its resemblance to the motley tints of the harlequin's dress. The marvellous play of colours is thought to be occasioned by nearly invisible fissures, and also by thin films of air filling cavities in the interior. Opals are generally cut on cabpchon,, or tallow drop shape on both sides, and the true beauties of the gem only display themselves when the stone is moved about, as then a fine opal really appears to have actual life within itself. They are much more brilliant on a warm day. A dealer in gems, aware of this peculiarity, invariably holds an opal in his hand before showing it, in order lo impart warmth to the gem. True stones of large size are rarely found. Sir Walter Scott, aware that the stone loses its beauty when exposed to water, has alluded to iV;? fact in "Anne of Geierstein, although in that romance he ascribes ' it to supernatural agency. Strange ', to say, after the publication of the brilliant novelist's fiction, the I elief that opals were unlucky obtained' such currency that they quickly wer.t out of fashion for a time. Of late years they have again come into vogue, and promise to become, as ' they have always deserved to be, universal favourites, and now each day the demand for fine opals increases, and really fine stones command big prices.