The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1896-05-10
p THE GEM OF THE DAY.
END OF THE sUPEFsTITION THAT
1T rs mi UCKY.

mat IN any other stone IN the last tnreo years
ihere was a time when a woman WIN = wei
resuiateu Womeh's NINA wo"iu shlVcr y t"'
oknl oI ahother woman wearing "h"' vas re-
tarueu " tho most nnlucky OF gems "uu ie"
mo" "o'o brave enough 10 Nv IN inc iace OF
supeietit'oh OF tue women IN thelr iam'ileS'
,ouey ~ II no thing 10 count :
uoNon ,nks anu pins set Win opsns uurins u
'nore'tipon inc street cars.
'O",o o.no arc 80 iohu OF tho stouo thaI
."e oe"'ue WI others' ohe woman 4"
.mo :, :. .aRu,neen' coireotion' conSlSsinE
- oeNa. y u oahu o inc STONES W ins-
ou a'ou y, .n'oa'' a"u iohR pehuah'S III
no"" -. " eNoiI ones III the oaeA' u
-. 80 |"u oeNeh ripks, 'sNo
anopai .. =" uiainonus' rms very
" v" 70 = .niow ~ o.oeouinkiy
y" NY = Asoury
arr II .nous"1 " Drought ner o"o
800 sno - v,me, NV sue
~" w N1a mN, W 'uo re' 'l,ho'
1uo, 10" = u AepC 'nAS
up until the "ekine'up process didnt pay Tor
sana with several other girls. They were dis-
sAnu "i.n 80 .o, uA
bles. One of them drew back suddenly.
"Ob. YOU wear an opal ring" she exclaimed.
taking the engaged girls hand in hers. How
can your Why. my dear girl, that's the secret
of ali your trouble"
Certainly 1t Is" cried all OF the others.
Throw it into the sea- suggested one.
~. crusb n to atoms nndor vour too, y
W. ~ NAN' ''U' i''''
came from another.
ole, .rom nm ~ t",nnr" ansmorOd ,ho O moan"
sii' !" ~ 49, 'ou u "'"iei'
ring cost $500"
.Tbot doesn't matter. destrov 4, ~ cborused
the crowd, but one girl a little more practical
than the rest said tersely:
"sellit"
That wouldn't break the spell" answered n
married woman. You must put the stone out
=. --... ~ - -. -.
happily married II I hadn't thrown an opal pin
u Nv ~ ~ ,ou Us : u 'i .me
thihe after Ahother happeheo. ahu IRON tno
I,vs has nothing Int hanp,nsss"
Ono after another thsv told narrowing ta,ss
of the evil influence that the opal had gained in
, their ovn lives or in those of their friends. and
finally the woman took tho ring from her hand,
looked q. II = LONG time; anu Presseu ~ 70 ner
oGS oeasi tns Hyhe ose f' %Suld s siiss' a sns sls io'o and
shake her mead as muoh as 70 say.
Cant you lind the courage Finally
she FOUND IT, Tor she heId the ring tlghtly smut
in her palm, ran down to the edge OF the water
and cried ont IN = tone as iull or tragedy as that
OF the leauihe lauy IN an amateur company.
Perish all OF my misery At that very
minute her sweetheart walked by with a
ptNt'y vs. 49, N
attitude Of the girl as she was In the act Of
throwing the ring and his heart was softsnsd:
serious disagreement
e .Ihat woman never got over yie1dins maj
perstition Of others" said the gem expert who
was telling the story, ana a rev years iater,
coms , ppals so Seesme so Of a srst one a amp ,6 6ees ano she
or, until she had a collection OF many hne ones.
snsTss people seS claim nsT t test II, 1he tt trad last II ab geei sea has
This Is an exaggeration. While l DON'T know
exactly what the figures are: l should nhsn say say that
cent. There's been a wonderful revolution,
though. IN the opal business. 1t used to
be a rare thing for a man or woman to come in
here to purchase jewels who wasn't afraid to
wear an opal; now IT'S a rars thing 70 ma a per-
good many who haven't been able to wipe out
me snperstat,on OF several Eehera.ons, out ahe
tast as Il os sss the %, 9TH otSe Spsi P p sSa esimpiy o snsm
no longer resist the beauty OF thls stone.
Now. look at this stone holding up one an
inch longl. There ls not a prettier one in this
city, put ~ isn't a hungarian Opal; For many
years the hungarian mines supplied the world.
rare thing nowadays TO SEQ one or those old
hungarian gems That look ike beautiful soap
mines or Australia. A Few years ago we Ameri-
cans thoueht we hao struck nue. opal mines IN
anano, ont nsNenE even SO mucn as heapd OF
inclined to think that the first pocket was the
pest, as IS otten the case In gold, silver, and
Other mines;
:, I M mS5u opmia WAYS OF sett,hg Ine opni Is
has F been 's so far an" reversed "ssei"f that 0"' w sunSss'' W8a
cant afford these things VIII buy a imple little
STICK pin or pinkie ring: set with an inexpensive
stone, to wear as a go9d-luck stone;
customers come IN and tell the most mar
vellous stories about how the opal changes Its
color. or course y does. II is a very soft stone
ana wears OH. 4 little polishing restores 1t to
lts natural prllilancy. lhen they want US to
guarantee mat the 4pals they buy won't crack;
NO gem expert would guarantee the finest opal
that ever was taken out or the earth. The
stone consists OF millions or inhnitesimal
fractures ana shows Its ,colors on exact.
~ the same principle that a piece of
broken Ice does. How could one guarantee
a stone formed In such a wayr Gem experts
have seen other crystals besides opals do queer
Things; Tor instance, the diamond emerald. or
ruby. Another notion Is that water changes
opals. This Is not true II a woman washed
her hands several times a day, without remov.
ing an opal ring. OF course the stone would
change, Tor the wear on 1t would be great: IL
would change, too, II the wearer didn't put IL In
water yet more constantly.
Formerly the average man or woman who
wasn't born In October wouldn't take an opal
as a gift but today both are only TOO glad to
6tition regarding the stones, although occa-