The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1896-10-25

she thought he was corning bacl, -
her. But he never came, and sba - HiarrY
the stone ever since" mas mad
The woman refused to sell II o..
cans are apt to do with any of tbet -ie&i-
sessions, but ultimately she relino1,iliL pos
for a large sum, but telling tbe ,'-- iied i
that bud luck would go with II 80 ~ Chaser
would lose its fire. This seer ,+ SHdt It
enough, as before the new own, lrus
opal mad reached civilization he NJ, the
eral times attacked and Narrowly as sew
with his life WY escaped
The stone was taken to the east ana
hloited to several people, all of WIZ, n,iu ex-
dered at its beauty. The oVne I'm IN Won
story of the old woman and her - olu Tue
that is would lose its fire ube,' 0uItlon
away. Finally wishing to have ~, AIKEN
SNAPPED. he gave it to a Iapidarv stone
Gays aIter ne was sent for and sbon.a lew
SUI ! - was now an oval, but had ue
TREY lost the fire and CLEANS -" 1u en-,
characterized 1t. For a moment tb - mad
was dumbfounded, believing the o"her
the old woman; then he thougb+ la OF
stone had been changed. This CO The
De proved; so he took the gem Ao'
ne accIuehtally broke it, and threw il 1u sef
a drawer to keep merely as o, i. INTO
Months after, having occasion - C tl toslty.
drawer, he was amazed to sae 81 70 ne
OF nre. 1t was the opal which - p!d@e
ineomprehensible way, had reneu VI some
life. renewed Is
To those familiar with opals thar
49, Pecullar IN this, as many stonas
sao 'nv singular FACULTY of losing rs
nre. This was well ILLUSTRATED .neir
years ago, when a number of Nra,-,eIal
look some rough opals to New, Aredns
which by their beauty and fire 1ofK
much attention. They were sold ~ ,a ecled
Oh Oh gems, VINO valued them for their nsoi,
mar ngnt, which was said to reserh1o P ttI,
VI sloW-Worm. One Of the purchases
"as ~. "A. Y, damlin, mineralogist. On
OF the stones was so beautiful thar he e
RED 1t in his pockets; but graduaII,- al ar
ana an the others began to fade Aco6 SS
ing 10 the owner, faint nebulosity
peared at first in one end of tba ap-
ike the dim and distant haze of a s,,ro
mer sky" Gradually this increased AL
"a "a nndiiy the beautiful glow and fire en-
tirely disappeared. en-
Inc opal is one of the most interesnrr
OF stones, and has found its wav into Ing
ularity despite the iIl-omen that is s
posed TO surround it and the misfort,1ao
that follows the wearer The gem jS
faVorlte with Queen Victoria, who wear
some OF the most beautiful opals known
rms TACT mas probably had much to do
with the dissipa tion of the prejudice
The noble opal is the most valuable. +bo
fire opal, where there is a blaze of all
colors, the most common; while the New,
lean variety, or lechusos, Is very common
There are a number of names given To tbn
different tints.
The finest opals come from Hungary. but
the noble opals of Honduras are very fine
one speciment being known that weighed
over one pound; but the really fine pieces
are not large or common. One of the most
prolific deposits has been found at Fran,
dique, Mexico, upon hill about $50 feet
high and along half-mile of its surface
Some localities are very productive of va.
rious kinds of opals.
Fine specimens of fire opals have been
found in Oregon, Crook county, and a few
years ago discovery. was made in the
state of Washington of fire opals Georgia
has several veins, and traces have been
found in Pennsylvania and Colorado.
White opal occurs at Mokelumne hill, Ca
laveras county, California, while traces
have been seen in Massachusetts, Arizona
Kansas and other states
One of the most interesting discoveries
in opals has recently been made in Colo
RADIO. Its popularity lies in its absorbent
power and the subsequent change. If
drop of water is placed upon the stone it
begins at once to change, at first looking
chalky and finally transparent. 1t has been
called the magic stone" and is to be used
in various ways. Thus, a photograph is
placed beneath a stone in a ring. Ordi-
narily it is invisible, but by slowly drop
ping some water upon it, the picture or
face gradually and mysteriously appears.
This has been tried on superstitous people
with great effect.
Large opals are rare. One of the largest
ever found was exhibited in San Francisco
some time ago. 1t was II inches long, five
inches wide and one and a quarter inches
thick. 1t was taken from the Guerrero
(Mexico) mine, and is valued at $4,000 and
weighs 700 carats. In the Hungarian crown
there is an opal valued at $4,000, weighing
526 carats. One of the largest known is
owned by Tiffany & Co.