The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1901-07-22

dav2'' the owner demanded with a look
Of emazement at the tame liteless DIT OF
The honest lapidary. 20 runs he tale.
took hack the stone, turned TO MS ATM
and roughened the OpaIs surface. v nesl
aO as If in protest. out leaped the tlal1l,es
of tight once more. The polishing Of the
stone had allowed the light 10 pass Win
out any breaking up OF the rays
Just as the man had decided TO nave
his opal rough and glorious rather man
polished and tame the stone snapper IN
two. in ar unpleasant way op94s nave
when on the }apidarys wheel. The ha4Fes
were CemeIted together and put IN a
drawer among other decrep4t and useless
things. There they stayed for months
Then someone hunting in the drawer
for something. caught the light Of a
glowing flame from a dark corner The
neglected opal had decided 50 mend IL
ways as well as itself and. cement ana
all, was more brilliant Than ever IL was
set and has behaved very we'll since. ? r
haps the sense of this mysterious per
sOnality in an opal may be responsible
for the superstitious fear Of it.
Opals come TO this. country from Hur
gary and Australia IN the rough. Those
from Mexico and Central Americs are cut
and polished near the mines often to the
damage of the stone Those which coma
from abroad are still in the matriN OF ma
tive rock. The average ones are cut and
polished by the wholesale 1eaiers hut
they keep the largest and finest s9eci-
mems uncut 50 as TO shape them for
special orders.
Tt is delicate task to cut and polish
an opal, because, if overheated, it breaks
Otherwise the work is quite simple Il Is
cut with a lead wheel, called lap, with
emery on the surface Fben II Is pollshe1
with pumice and finally frightened win
putty powder good stone IS sofa.
when cut and polished. at about $40 4
carat, although there Is a wide variation
in price according to the 5r1ll1ancy and
cOiOrS- Under the blOwpip0 the opal
cracks but does not melt. 1t dissoiVes IN
a solution of cold caustic potash Con-
Sequently neither potash nor ploWplpeS
can be recommended Tor OpaiS unless you
think they are unlucky and want to get
rid of them. In that case one might try
smashing the suspected stone with q
hammer. as one woman did, or throwing
it into the semi-hqUid Chicago river. as
another woman did.
X an opal grows dun. as it often does.
that may mean simply that 1t needs
polishing. Sometimes. though, il means
that the opal is pining for the water cure
or the oil cure. Try putting your amaze
mic opal in one of these fluids and Sc
if it does brighten up; HyGrophane. tho
transformed by being boiled in oil. Ii be-
comes brilliant and stays so for years
Generally Opals are more brilliant whea
they are warm. That is the reason the
dealer often holds them in his hands be-
fore exhibiting them. There is one IA
nous opal however which is contrary
about this. 1t was in the Hope collection
and was ordinarily a translucent stone
of an emerald green color.
Nut0 II SOt 100 warm II LOST It's Color
which perhaps was its temper and turn
ed dull and Opaque. AS soon as It cooled
off. it became translucent and brilliant
once more
q g g
A few years ago black Opals were pro-
duced or introduced. The authorities on
the stone admitted that the new opal was
beautiful but they questioned its absolute
natuTalness. The stones sold well. natu-
raj or not There are some genuine black
opals coming from Queensland. One OF
them sold for $500.
1t seems strange that a stone can so
completely lose its character as good
luck bTinger. The Romans thought the
opal the most wonderful and desirable OF
gems. The unfortunate Nonius had an
opal which was considered the marvel of
that day, although it was only about the
size of a filbeTt.
Antonius set his heart on it, but Nonius
ran away into exile, taking his opal with
him.
And now-now the jewelers. tell how
fidgety ladies and giggling school girls
bring back an opal which has been given
to them and trade it off for something
anything. And the opaFs heart burns
you can see it-but it bides its time.