Juniata sentinel and Republican. [volume] (Mifflintown, Juniata County, Pa.) 1873-1955, 1886-10-20
QUEEN VICTORIA FAvORs oPALs.
She has Distributed a Lot Among
Her Friends and Made Them
Fashionable.


Fashionable.
Queen Victoria has made the oral
fashionable again. All the gifts OF
jewelry that she has bestowed among
her friends for the past year have been
opals. Sometimes they have been Sc,
alone, sometimes set with diamonds.
The queen has always had penchant
for these alleged unlucky stones. She
has insisted that they brought no more
bad luck to those wearing them than
any other jewels, and she has long tried
to allay that superstition. Her rather
profuse distribution of these stones
among her friends, 1t IS said, had for
its object the doing away with the
superstition altogether.
The queens own jeweller naturally
took the hint, and the other jewellers
who were not the queens own, but
who were more than willing to be,
were not slow in perceiving that there
was ready sale for the very gems that
had been heretofore looked upon with
suspicion. So they made up into rings,
pins, and in other ways, all they had in
stock, and sent out for more. Thus it
wasn't very long before every bIooded
English lady or gentleman who wore
jewelry at all, sported many and beau
tlful opals. Then it wouldn't be Eng
lish, you know, if the blooded Amer
leans didn't have lot of opals, too,
and, although President Cleveland
didn't have any ''own Jeweler," 10 set
the opal rolling, there were lots
OF jewellers who did. There wasn't a
very big stock of opals in these parts,
so orders were sent to Hungary, the
great opal market, to rush on here tie
best they had. Then opals went up.
To-day they are loo per cent. higher
than they were year ago. Good ones
sell for S55 carat, and increase in
price in almost the same ratio as dla-
mOnds. OF course small and inferior
stones can be bought as low as s.
a carat, but they are not bit pretty.
The big iewelry houses are working
them into all sorts of jewelry, and are
very sad because they cannot get as
many as they want.
The jewellers and precious stone
dealers of the eighteenth century, who
had invested largely in opals, were
nearly thrown into bankruptcy by Sir
Walter Scott, who, in one of his
Waverley Novels, pretty nearly ruined
the opal's reputation forever, and 1t IS
said that many jewelers. of the present
day cherish resentment against that
great novelist, on account or the injury
that he did TO their forefathers, and
will not allow any of his works on their
library shelves. The ancieuts had
called the opal the 'love st0ne," and
no bloodel young Roman or Greek
would have even family considered en-
gaglng himself in marriage if he hadn't
an opal ring for the girl. And any an
cient who had a very cHo.ce opal,
as-sRee became Pfe,a.i, ard looked down
on the other ancients who were not SO
fortunate.
Indeed, there are strange stories told
of these men of old, and their opals. 1t
is chronlcled in the encyclola liza,
which took the facts straight from the
old records, that a Roman senator
named Nonius had an opal that made
all the other Opdls in those parts pale.
Ole day Mare Antony happened to see
1t, and he wanted it for himself. He
lntImated to the senator that it would
net be bad scheme to make him
present of it. But the senator didn't
see it In that light. Then Antony SAID
he would have to give him that opal or
be banished. NOniuS replied that he
would be banished, then, and let the
country with his opal, all his other
goods having been coniiscated. The
ancient Pliny, who saw this opal, says
that it wasworth in Roman money Iuiy-
alent to S50O,O00.
When Sir Walter Scott wrote that
novel-it was Anna of Geierstein"-
and told about the Baron Won Arm
helm, who had All opal which OCCASION
ally got angry and flashed red fire, the
)pal market dropped at once. That
)pal worked too much mischief not to
-uin the reputation of Its family. Its
irst little eccentr.citles weren't SO
much, but its wind up was very bad.
The Baron mad wedded a beautiful
Persian maiden, and for year or two,
while that opal was behaving itself, af-
airs went smoothly enough.
Then the Baron and his wife, along
with their relatives and friends, went
10 church to have their baby chris
ened. 1t was all right until a drop of
loly water fell on that opal. There
vas a sizzle, and lot of red fire darted
,ut of the opal, which at once became
IS dull and lustreleSS as piece of a
Inner plate, and it wasn't long after
his that the Baron and the Baroness
lied.
After reading that story nobody
:ared much for opals. and it would
AVE been hard TO find girl who
would have consented to have one
n her engagement ring. Apparently
queen Victoria doesn't believe the
tory, or superstition isn't as strong as
t was. AT any rate, the latest engage
nent rings will contain opals.
One thing has leaked out since Opal5
ave again become fashionable, and
hat is the dealers in Hungary have
een playing 1t low on the other
ealers. The best opals were said |
o come from Hungary, and everybody
ent there for them. Now, the truth |
) that the best opal mines are in South
America. just where, nobody is willing |
o tell, and the Hungarian merchants
ave been having them shipped to Hun
.ary, where they are sold as a home |
'roduct. One bright jeweler of New
FORK tumbled to this fact, and sent an
gent down to South America, who !
ought up $500 very fine opa.s. and |
for several thousand more.
The other jewellers have tried hard to
et him to tell where the mines are, but |
le won't.