The Washington times., 1901-09-22

colorS prvdominate are considered the
finest. The green and voilet comoina-
| ton is less sought after. Golden opais,
or those in which yellow predominates'
are still less desirable The harlequin
! opal has the lights in regular angular
! patches, almost like square spanglcs.
1t is cosidered the finest type of stone.
| As for Mexican Opals, they are full
! of varieties and all degrees of value.
| One Maiden Lane dealer SAYS he has
several thousand Mexican opals which
he will sell off at five cents apiece He
says that the same stones sell, by the
lot. in Mexico at ten cents apiece.
The Mexican fire opal is unlike its
distant relative, the hydrophane. The
fire opal, as might be expected, does not
like water. Too much dousing puts out
its flames and it becomes dull and col
orless. Some of these stones. which are
lambent with light when first mined,
| slowly grow dull and cloudy until they
are absolutely worthless.
! In fact there is no prophesying what
particular caprice may lurk in the
heart of an opal. DIR. August c. Ham
| lin tells strange story of one which
was brought in the rough from Central
| America. When it was turned over TO
! the lapidary it was a gorgeous stone,
blazing with some secret fire. The lap
| idary, strange man. was honest, and
| he did not enthuse over his commission.
! Still he set at work and polished the
stone and handed it over to the owner.
is this the gem you received yester-
| day." the owner demanded with look
| of alnazement at the tame, lifeless bit
of glass.
| The honest lapidary, so runs the tale,
took back the stone, turned to his lathe,
and roughened the opafs surface. When
loi as if in protest. out leaped the
flames of light once more. The polish
ing of the stone had allowed the light
to pass without any breaking up of the
rays.
Just as the man had decided to have
his opal rough and glorious rather than
polished and tame, the stone snapped
in two, in an unpleasant way opals
have when on the lapidarys wheel. The
halves were cemented together and put
in a drawer among other decrepit and
useless things. There they stayed for
months.
Then some one, hunting in the drawer
for something, caught the light of a
glowing flame from dark corner. The
neglected opal had decided to mend its
ways as well as itself, and, cement and
all. was more brilliant than ever. 1t
was set and has behaved very well
81, h. s fk,fe
terious personality in an opal may be
responsible for the superstitious fear
of it.
Cpals come to this country from Hun
gary and Australia in the rough. Those
from Mexico and Central America are
cut and polished near the mines. often
to the damage of the stone. Those
which come from abroad are still in the
matrix or native rock. The average
ones are cut and polished by the whole
sale dealers, but they keep the largest
and finest specimens uncut so as to
shape them for special orders.
1t is delicate task to cut and polish
an opal. because, IL overheated, it
breaks. Otherwise the work is quite
simple. 1t Is cut with lead wheel,
called a lap, with emery on the surface.
Then 1t is polished with pumice and
finally frightened with putty powder.
A good stone is sold, when cut and Fol
ished, at about $40 a carat. although
there is wide variation in price ac-
cording to the briiliancy and colors.
Under the blowpipe the opal cracks, but
does not melt. 1t dissolves in a solu-
ton of cold caustic potash. Conse-
quently neither potash nor blowpipes
can be recommended for opals unless
you think they are unlucky and want
to get rid of them. In that case one
might try smashing the suspected stone
with a hammer. as one woman did.
If an opal grows dull. as it often
does, that may mean simply that it
needs polishing Sometimes. though, 1t
means that the opal is pining for the
water cure or the oil cure. Try putting
your anemic opal in one of these fluids
and see if it doesn't brighten up. Hy-
drophane. the bibulous member of the
family, is often transformed by being
boiled in oil. 1t becomes brilliant and
stays so for years.
Generally opals are more brilliant
when they are warm. That is the rea-
son the dealer often holds them in his
hands before exhibiting them. There is
one famous opal, however. which is
contrary about this. 1t was in the Hope
collection and was ordinarily a trans
lucent stone of an emerald green color.
When it got too warm it lost its color,
which perhaps was its temper. and
turned dull and opaque. AS soon as it
cooled off it became translucent and
brilliant once more.
A few years ago black opals were
produced. or introduced. The authori-
ties on the stone admitted that the new
opal was beautiful, but they questioned
it's absolute naturalness. The stones sold
well, natural or not There are some
genuine black opals coming from
Queensland. One of them sold for
$. 900.
1t seems strange that stone can so
completely lose its character as
good luck bringer. The Romans
thought the opal the most wonderful
and desirable of gems. The unfortu-
nate Nonius had an opal which was
considered the marvel of that day, al
though 1t was only about the size Of
fiIbert
Antonius set his heart on it, but Nonius
ran away into exile, taking his opal
with him That stone is variousIy
quoted at from c 900 to s17O,00O The
latter figures are probably from the yell
low journals of the day. Still it was