The sun., 1901-06-30
CApRICES OF THE OPAL.
STRANGE FREAHS or THE GEN BY
SOME THOUGHT UNLUCKr.
wide,pread superstition on tho ssbject One
Opal Fond Of Drink Mystertoos Ftrss q
the Gen, -Unexplsined variatiess In Bril-
Iiancy One . Lacky stone.

Mancy One . Lscky stone.
It's queer about opals. Until 100 years ago
they were supposed to be the luckiest OF all
the precious stones People said they had
all the colors OF oil the other gems and all
their virtues too.
The very name OF opal comes from Greek
word meaning the eye and was given to tho
stone because the opal was supposed to be
sort OF perpetual eye doctor TO the people
who wore t Apparently the modern opal
has given up eye doctoring. for Queen ''c-
toria practically lost her eyesight, although
the opal was one OF her favorts stones
King Edward VII recently had an offer OF
a Inc opal TO be added TO the Crown jswe's
and was apparently quite willing TO tako it
But when the rumor got out. his loving SUD
ject, had chills OF terror. They wrote him
letters by the score. pleading with him not 70
| tempt fate by consorting with opais
They evidently thought that II the opal
was put into the Crown Jewels II would orins
had luck TO the kingdom From that point OF
view the King agreed that they had right TO
be consulted He said he had no sQuesinish-
ness about opal, himself, but II his loving
subj ects would be moro comfortable without
opals, the Crown jewels would have TO worry
along with Just Kohinoor diamonds and big
pear-shaped rubtss
OF course the people who had cold chills
over the prospect OF an opal In the royal
jewelry pointed to the French crown jewels,
Some Of them are still extant even though
the monarchy has gone to rack and ruin.
There were two big opals In the French outht.
One was in the Order Of tho Golden Fleece:
the other served as a clasp on the Imperial
robe II was unfortunate for Louis XV.
that these jewels did not make his eyesight
good enough to sec what mess his kingdom
| was getting into.
The Duke and the Duchess Of Cornwall
apparently have no fear Of the opal hoodoo.
At Queensland they received 0 present OF
some beautiful opals which they accepted
with alsority. The superstitious will now
be on the lookout for disaster. The German
TO, al family has an open fondness for this
mali gned stone and manages to get along
without more than its share OF hard luck
Ii is said that Sir Walter Scott is the guilty
man WHO started the prejudice against TINS
stone which had previously borne such = 2
1ieierstein" was malevolent specimen Of its
kind and struck chill TO the hearts OF all
and ed sS.hed dhs hsS il. ssSs Day rSS
But there are plenty Of men and women
sSms ssG S s ss sss Sggs ggsyrG gas
feeling sSSss The .s:|T, gem SsSsss SsSsss
here rse owned up w % having a feeling against
opals one of the leading Chicago jewellers 8
has this feeling TO such an extent that ne
trade trade Tor Tor his trade because for number Of
years the opal has been one OF the most lash
lonable Of precious stones ., 4.
| There Is one respect In which the opal is
absolutely unique 1t cannot be initiated
There are magnificent opals. and there are
pas which are not worth ays sens sns
glass might be mistaken for one OF these
ive-cent opals, but soaroeiy for anything
much better. Jewellers divide opsls into INT
various classes; common. semi lire, WOOD
moss precious or noble and harlequin
A great many persons think that precious
stones have certain M living nature IL yoSaa tSai
much xb nd,dSssy tS SSs yx,S i RR.s Rsy' such queer
For instance there Is certain VARIETY f'y.ry OF
condition But II you put 1t In water u sradu-
ally becomes transparent and sometimes de.
all 1t likes warm water better than cold
end alas for It's morals. spirits OF wine better
tbon anything When IL gets over its little
lag like some Of its human prototypes. It's
gets duh and lifeess once more.
Mr. Kunz. the ~ell-known gem expert.
has suggested using this hydrophanel as
hair. or a tiny photograph. or other small
object could be enclosed in i and would be
quite invisible except when the stone became
transparent through drink. II is said that
this hydrophane will drink almost is own
bulk OF water which quite beats any German
beer drinking on record ,,u, u,rr,,vond
Of late years. from Australia and Queens
land rQpals are not picked up ss DIAMONDS
are They form veins n the rock ,hd Gener n;sr
That Is the trouble with the opal deposits
on this continent, so far as they have been
When tho patch OF opal isn't more than
ness L can't be cut to advantase, especially
p. q and g'TS Se oE shs cut SnG hs
well as some careless persons who have
dropped their own opals, know this fact to
The Hungary mines seem TO be almost
worked out, SO far as the largest and finest
specimens are concerned In 400 more than
Of these mines where now only about thirty
men ara at work The largest opals In ex-
istence came from this mine.
One Of them IL In the Imperial Cabinet
at Vienna II weighs seventeen ounces and
rumor says thai half million horins was
offered for i and refused The Empress
ing Of Troy because OF the wonderful plays
Of flames in II This stone is an ,eeSaImI le
Of ne ecco.ptrhicit. Of the opal While !,
was absolutely opaque underneath
l. seems strange that stone which is so
FULL Of color is really not colored itself Al
|
is supposed TO come from the dfraotion
| OF light The Stone ia full OF tiny fssures
! which contain water In these the rays OF
| light are decomposed
Opas in which the red and green colors
| prcdominge are considered the finest The
! after Golden opals. or those In which vel
low prcdominates. are still less desirable
! The harlequin opal has the lights in regular
| angular patches almost like square spang giles
II is considered the finest type of stone
A. for Mexican opals they are OF all yarie-
ties aud all degrees Of value One Maiden
Lane dealer says he has several thousand
MEXICAN opals which he will sell OF at five
cents apiece lilo says that the same stones
sell by the lot. in Mexico at 10 cents apiece
The Mexican fire. opal Is unlike Ws distant
relative. the hydrophane lhe FIRE opal,
as might b, expected does not like water,
Too much donsing puts out its flames and 1t
stones which are lambent with light when first
mined. slowly. grow dull and cloudy until
they nrc absolutely worthless
In fact. there l. no prophcsying what par
ticular caprice may lurk In the heart OF an
opal Or August liamlin tells a strange
story of one which was brought in the rough
from Central America When II was turned
blazing with some secret fire The lapidary,
strange mani was honest and he did not
enthuse over hi- commission Still he set
al work and polished the stone and handed
1t over n the owner
"ls this the gem YOU received Yesterday"
the owner demanded with a look Of amaze
Incnt at the tame, lifcless bit " glass.
The honest lapldary, 40 runs tho tale. took
back the stone, turned to his lathe and
roughened tho opa!s surface. When 10! ms
If in protest. out lcnped the flames Of light
once more The polishing Of the stone had