The Pioche weekly record. [volume] (Pioche, Nev.) 1877-1900, 1892-06-30
SILLY SUPERSTITION.
The Widespread Belief That Opais
Are Unlucky.
Jewellers who are Afraid to Keep Them
in stock-some Reasons why the
Beautiful Gems Are Viewed
with Distrust.

The silly superstition about opais-
that they bring i'll luck-dies hard, says
Minerals In fact although Queen Vic
toria has taken firm stand against 1t
and proves her position by making pres
ents of opal jewelry to her friends and
relatives, there are many who think
that it is increasing. The superstition
and the arrival within year OF a
bushel or so OF opals from Australia, un-
SURPASSED In color, have had tendency
10 lower the price Of these lovely gems,
and some dealers ara willing to dispose
Of their stock OF them for less than cost
One iewelcr in New York, who formerly
sold good many, refuses to keep them
anv longer. "I haven't an opal in the
place" said he. 'Mind, I'm not in the
least affected by this idea OF opals
bringing bad luck, for love the stones,
and would as lief have an opal on my
finger as diamond, but they are ruin
ming down in value and have but few
buyers, so that it does not pay me TO
keep them. and. besides, women come
back here with opal rings and pins that
/ sold them years ago and demand to
exchange them for something else, be-
cnuse in the meantime their pet cats
have died, or their babies have had
Group, OF their neighbors have expressed
horror at their temerity in wearing a
forbidden gem. In other words, they
want to exchange worn and unstable
goods for things that are newer and OF
more value, and in cases where they
are good Gust omers | have to submit to
it,
,
One man in Brooklyn took the opal
out of his ring and smashed 1t TO atoms
with hatchet because he had failed In
business.
While Sir Walter Scott did something
to give the opal bad name by his
account Of ii In Anne of Gicrstein," il
was held in distrust long before his
time. 1t was considerably in use il
Venice at the time of the plague, and il
was noticed there in the hospitals
that before death the stone woult
sometimes brighten ON the victims fin
ger. IL never seemed TO occur TO tht
people that the Illness could produc,
the glow Of color; they took it fol
granted that the stone occasioned the
illness. As IA matter of fact opals ar,
affected by heat, even by that of tn,
hand, and the fever. being at it's heigh
just before death, caused the colors t.
shine with unwonted clearness. Thi
confirmed the superstition, and to thi
day there are sane and able-bodiedp peopl
who believe that chip of stone in tn
house can cause ealamities. Sometime
it seems as ii mankind has not gone ia
beyond it's swaddling clothes as yet.
Probably another reason for the dis
trust excited in opals is the fact tina
they change and lose their color. Thi
has It's cause in the softness and POI
BUSINESS of the material and its capacit
both for absorbing water and withpart
ing with what it has, one of whic
transformations tends to make 1t dull
the other chalIzy and Opaque. A pecu
lar variety of opal, black in color, ye
exhibiting iridescent flashes, was CT
into handsome stones, but on openin
the papers that contained them a fe'
weeks later it was discovered that the
had crumbled into powder. They wer
said to have come from New Zealand.
The transparent opals that come frol
Honduras are believed to regain colo
after It has become faint, by soakin
them in oil. Doubtless the most Gu
'ouS Aorh oI optl, Dut one tnaU uOeS m
commend itself for use in ornament,
the hydrophane, that was known cel
turtles ago as the oculus mundi,
"eye of the world"-a name purely fal
tastical-and that has recently bes
found In small quantities in Colorad
This stone has wonderful power
absorption. In Its usual state it is of
yellowish, waxy tint, but when wat
is dropped upon it the tint slow
passes away, and from being ,transl
cent It becomes transparent. On e
posure to the air the water evaporat
In an hour, leaving the stone as it w
before. ab
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