THE OPAL.

Auckland Star, Volume LIX, Issue 249, 20 October 1928, Page 17 (Supplement)

THE OPAL.

OCTOBER'S GEM.

ITS HTHEB BEAUTIES.

AND ITS SUPERSTITIONS.

In all ages and in all countries a birthday jewel and a birthday flower have been assigned to each month, and October has the lovely opal, and the flower of the hop vine;

The super stitioji about thiii gam, the most beautiful' of all' precious stones, did not appear in , Europe until Sir Walter Scott wrote his novel, "Anne of Geersteen," in which - the heroine attributes all her bad luck to the. "wearing of an opaL!' Then superstition was lorn—but the silly notion has happily died out.

The ancients had no such idea about the jewel, and the Romans called i£ '"The rosy herald of joy." In 510 8.C., Omacritus wrote of the beauty of the mysterious stone, for one of the strange thingß about it is that scientists then, or now, cannot account 4 for the wonderful play of colour, which gives it its value. 'v : "a f

Although it possesses all the hues of the rainbow, when the .interior |ijs examined there is nothing to ' explain why it should show those glowing, iridescent, changing lights. Bome say, or rather think, that it has invisible fissures filled with water and air which produce these exquisite and - wonderful tints. • I

Most Fragile.' £ It is the most fragile of all gemS. When taken from the earth it may be picked from its bed with the finger nail, out it hardens when exposed to the

The Hungarian opal is called the noble opal. Its peculiarity is the milky whiteness of its surface. But Australia has produced the "peacock varietyfound m veins of brown stone in Queensland, •nd it is highly prized both in Europe White Cliffs, in New Wales, is producing beautiful S e ® B ®°re like the Hungarian. nlack opals came from Egypt.. They wrthe "glow of a tire flame under a jet. black cloud." Opals range in colour from the milky the moonstone and the ahim«r of mother o' pearl, through tints of nn ♦ em e™ld and amethyst, _ *h® superb peacock bluea and tvli ' J ustrous and translucent from •lambent fire that forever smoulders rfe h - m - • i to a** W ' re sieved to-bring good luck v. 1 wearer, giving courage and their s desire, but they were said to be *■* to love and brought discord to * p Q receiver, for the "couple never though bound close in! friend♦hni f r wa8 ' and is, always 'kind to A , October for; says the "■tent adage;

child Is borne to woe, w£ es vicissitude* mast knew; 52k opal on her breast ' '(t i will jull all fears to rest,

Ifonins Unlucky. The most famous opal of ancient times belonged to a Soman senator, Nonius. It was valued then at £50,000. Mark Antony it for. Cleopatra, but Nonius would not sell, and, in consequence, he was banished from Rome.

The most 1 beautiful gem of modern time wai that belonging to the Empress Josephine, called the "Burning of Troy." It .was believed to be half of the jewel of Nonius, but it, too, was lost. No one knows its whereabouts to-day. Among the curiosities of plant -life, true opals are found in the joint of the bamboo and the natives of the Celebes use them as a talisman afcainst disease. 1 Nowadays superstition is this lovely lustrous gem takes its due rank, and even we who are not born in October may rest happy in their possession.