The Roanoke times. [volume] (Roanoke, Va.) 1890-1895, 1891-04-26
LUCK IN oPALs.
The Old Superstition. Is Fast
Dying Out.
Somo Strange Qualities Attributed to tho
Gems-What tho Leading Jewellers
Have to Say About
Them.

In ollen 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 lew
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 md with yerv
little work radiant. lovely surface is
obtained.
In the far East, says n writer in tho
New York Journal, opals arc held in
great awe by every one. One peculiar
superstition regarding the stone is
that If the red shade in the stone bo-
comes the most prominent and tho blue
tint less so, it denotes waning of
love on the part Of the givcr. Another
superstition existing in India among the
Hindoos is that if the prismatic colors
fade out of the stone it is n sure sign of
death to the wearcr.
1t is an unquestioned fact that the
opal does change it's intensity of color
according to the health of the wcarcr.
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 "Annc of
Gclcrstcin," by Sir Walter Scott, who
introduced into that romance an element
of ill-ucl which bcfell the heroine who
possessed a talismanic opal. This
strange idea of the ill-lucle 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-
ncnt jewclry houses. There was ahso-
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, I noticed several
gorgeous cpals set in u number of at
tractivc ways, SO I made a number of
inquiries 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
out" said one of Tiffany's clerks. 1--WE
receive large orders for the once unpop-
ular stone. | 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."
Here is glorious beauty of enormous
size, set in circle of diamonds. 1t ia
cut round and the brpIun; blues, reds
and greens fash togc>ser in and out
back and forth, in a heryi!derinp com
bination of shades TIN. >. absolutely
dazzling.
large importer CO .ee stones saws
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 easilv
procured.
ono prominent Jcweler informed me
that very few of the new millionaires of
this country owned any opals. In the
first place it was not snowy enough for
them. They wished something flashy
and brilliant that could be seen and adj
mired at a long distance. The opal
taste is essentially refined taste, and
one looks successfully for owners of the
precious stones among the old aristo-
Gratis.
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.