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Opal – Precious and treasured for centuries

Mother Nature is beauty personified; her charm comes across in various ways, in vivid shades of colours, shapes, designs and appearances. Her creations come in different kinds, trees, mineral deposits, gemstones, and so on and the same is a world of eternal grace, cheer and astounding variety. Gemstones are one of its most favourite creations; among them there is one that is hailed as simply breathtaking for its striking and dramatic appeal plus its curious mysteriousness. That is Opal. It is termed as one of the most marvellous creations of Mother Nature. Pages of History reveal Opal to be one of the most treasured and premier gemstones. Everything about this gemstone is dramatic, its appeal, its name origin and overall its magnetism and existence. With a hoary history allied with its appeal and popularity among gemstone connoisseurs, Opal has won for itself great acclaim.

Its close affinity with Mother Nature is best exemplified by its display, which comes in a hail of colour, a playact of nature’s wonder creations at its best. The same comes from the diffraction of light set up by the layers of silica spheres in its composition. This display is seen to be akin to the one caused by rainbow colours on a soap bubble. The only difference is that the display of Opal is termed as much more dramatic.

The name Opal comes from three sources, one from the Roman word “Opalus”, the second one from the Greek word “Opalliois” which means a change of colour and finally from the ancient Sanskrit word “Upala” which means precious stone. Where one speaks of the gemstone in mixed tongues then the word Opal would be Opallious upala, which means a change of colour precious stone.

The gemstone has been given many terms, the great English poet Shakespeare called it as the “Queen of Gems”, the Roman historian Pliny referred to it as a gemstone “having the fire of the carbuncle, the brilliant purple of the amethyst and the sea green colour of the emerald, all shining together in incredible union”.

The gemstone is associated with the month of October. It has over one hundred variety and trade names; however the list of accepted and commonly used names is much shorter. And in this list, the most popular one is the Precious Opal. This kind of opal is sub-divided into various colour categories; they are Black, White, Blue and Pink.

Opal is found mostly in New South Wales, Australia and Mexico. A strange and rather baffling tale is associated with people who scout for opals. It is disclosed that a opal miner leads a Spartan lifestyle in an area which is dry and barren to scout for the gemstone. And lo behold, the miner has to build underground home to escape the extreme temperatures to do the same.

History

• Greek astrologers and soothsayers from ancient days believed that the gemstone gave the owners (who possessed it) the powers to prophesise future trends and act with foresight.
• Romans had great regard for Opal and regarded it as a symbol of hope and purity. They put it next to emerald and termed it as one of the most valuable gemstones.
• Eastern people treasured the gemstone as a sacred one.
• The Arabs believed in the theory that the gemstone fell from heaven upwards in flashes of lightning resulting in it getting fiery colours.
• Another peculiar tale associated with the gemstone was that in the nineteenth century a theory existed that the gemstone if worn by a person whose birthstone was not Opal, bad luck or cruel fate would befell him or her. The theory has with passage of time lost its relevance.
• In the 19^thcentury the gemstone was attached with a stigma due to its role in the plot of a novel by Sir Walter Scott, Anne of Geierstein. The heroine possessed an opal which displayed fiery red colour when the lady was angry and turned ashen grey when she died. This curious curse was dispelled by Queen Victoria who gave away opal jewellery as wedding presents to her relatives.
• The famous French actress Sarah Bernhardt born in October was so particular with this gemstone that she never termed herself as well dressed unless she wore the gemstone.
• Early races regarded the gemstone as one having magical properties, possessing healing powers of all gems due to its various colours.

Colour

Opal comes in both colour and colourless form. The quality of this gemstone is said to be determined by the number of colours exhibited and the evenness of the pattern. Among the most favoured and treasured coloured opal is black opal. This kind of opal is said to divulge a strong display of colours. In other words, it displays brilliant flashes of various colours in all its vibrancy by diffracting white light. This kind of opal has dark colour background and is hailed as an unbelievable gemstone. Another kind of coloured opal is white opal, with light background; the colour display is based on pastel hues. Then there is Crystal opal, which has colourless background and shows play of colour and allows light to pass through it.

Fire Opal with fair transparency has background colour in any kind, that is, yellow or brown or orange or red. On certain occasions it has no colour background. This kind of opal is also called as Mexican Opal.

Where Opal is colourless, transparent or semi-transparent and has no little or no play of colour is referred to as jelly or water opal.

Where It is Found

The gemstone is found in sandstone or clay stone. The gemstone is spread over a wide area; the mining is done with hand-operated machinery and small tools.

The passage of years has resulted in the creation of synthetic opal that first sprouted in the year 1974. With far better skills and technique, better synthetic opal are being created. To top it off this type of opal is being created from the same material as is by Mother Nature. The result is that synthetic opal comes out as well as natural opal.

Benefits

• The immense versatility of this gemstone is that it can be worn with any kind of outfit of any colour.
• The gemstone is cut in dome shape and inserted in rings, earrings, pendants, bracelets and pins. To increase the vivacity of a particular colour in the gemstone, it may be joined by accents of ruby, sapphire or emerald.
• Black Opal is termed as a wonderful gift due to the fact that each piece is different from every other piece of opal. Another factor disclosed is that being scarce it is hailed as a valuable gemstone.
• A person whose birthstone is opal is hailed as gentle and a humanitarian personality. The personality is full of colour and beauty, likes the company of others having the same characteristics as he or she. The other trait is that such a personality is a die-hard optimist with positive energy flow and loathes pessimists.
• It is said to alleviate indigestion, stomach disorders and eye problems.
• The gemstone helps the wearer to earn happiness, love, good fortune and favour in the courts.
• Where one wears a talisman with opal in it, then it helps the wearer to foresee minor illness and this is indicated with the opal turning dull and grey. Similarly, the same turns sickly yellow when injury or accident is imminent.

Care and Treatment

The gemstone is very fragile, proper care should be exercised while working with it. When it is cut and polished, it shatters and cracks.

It has a mystical significance, aiding in psychic vision possessing the ability to open the Third eye.

Opal is a unique gemstone, possessing in depth and wondrous variety and a bevy of dancing colours.