The St. Johns herald., 1891-04-30
LUCK IN OPALS.
The Old Superstition Is Fasi
 Dying Out.
Some Strange Qualities Attributed to the - Gems-What the Leading Jewellers Have to Say About
 Them.

In olden times an opal was considered the choicest and most beautiful of all precious stones. One reason for this is that the art of polishing the hard jew els, diamonds, rubies and sapphires was not then known in such perfect ness as at the present day, and the beauties of these stones were not brought out. The opal, on the contrary, is soft, easily polished and with very little work radiant, lovely surface is obtained.
 In the far East, says writer in the New York Journal, opals are held in great awe by every one. One peculiar superstition regarding the stone is that if the red shade in the stone be- comes the most prominent and the blue tint less so, it denotes a waning of love on the part of the giver. Another superstition existing in India among the Hindoos is that if the prismatic colors fade out of the stone it is a sure sign of death to the wearer.
 It is an unquestioned fact that the opal does change its intensity of color according to the health of the wearer. This, however, is due to natural causes, as the stone is very sensitive to heat and according to the circulation of the blood, so the colors are more or less vivid.
 The modern superstition regarding opals can not be traced further than the beginning of the present century, and owes its origin to the story of "Anne of Gelerstein," by Sir Walter Scott, who introduced into that romance an element of ill-luclz which befell the heroine who possessed a talismanic opal. This strange idea of the ill-luck attending owners of any Of these beautiful jewels has extended down to the present day, and very few men or women have been found who were brave enough to possess or wear one.
 Until recently it was indeed quite rare to find an opal in any of the promi- nent jewelry houses. There was abso- lutely no call for them, and the value naturally was ridiculously low. But the other day, in passing window where handsome jewels of every va riety were displayed, noticed several gorgeous opals set in a number Of att tractive ways, so l made number of inquiriIs as to their present popular ity and whether the omen of bad luck still influenced people about purchasing them.
 ''Yes, am sure the feeling of super stition in regard to the opal is dying cut" said one of Tiffarys clerks. ''We receive large orders for the once unpop- ular stone. I would not care to call it exactly fad now among women; that term would hardly apply to such deli cate, lovely object, but I can say that the stone is certainly growing in popu- larity, and women are beginning to de- sire to add it to the collection in their jewel cases" -.,'f
 Here is glorious beauty of enormous size, set in circle of diamonds. 1t is cut round, and the brilliant blues, reds and greens flash together in and out, back and forth, in a bewildering com bination of shades that is absolutely dazzling.
 A large importer of the stones says that there is no difficulty in selling any fine specimens, as the demand is greater than the supply, but as in the case of many other things the American people demand the highest quality obtainable; this limits the amount of sales, as par ticularly fine specimens are not easily procured.
 One prominent jeweler informed me that very few of the new millionaires of this country owned any opals. In the first place it was not showy enough for them. They wished something fashy and brilliant that could be seen and ad- mired at long distance. The opal taste is essentially refined taste, and one looks successfully for owners of the precious stones among the old aristo- crats.
 A number of other jewellers said that their sales in opals were now much larger than heretofore and that many attached no importance to the unlucky omens. The value of the stone had largely increased owing to the demand.
 The finest opals in the world are brought from Hungary, where they are sometimes found of enormous size. Some fine specimens also come from Honduras and from Mexico and New Mexico.