OMINOUS AND LUMINOUS STONES 151
Now the melancholy God protect thee, and the Tailor make thy garment of changeable taffeta, for thy mind is very opal.
That
the beauty of the opal was fully appreciated in the sixteenth century
is shown by the words of Car-dano, who states that he once bought one
of these stones for fifteen gold crowns and found as much pleasure in
its possession as he did in that of a diamond that had cost him five
hundred crowns.11 Although superstitious beliefs were rather
the rule than the exception in Car-dano's time, none of the silly
fancies regarding the ominous quality of the opal were then current.
It was reserved for the nineteenth century to develop these altogether
unreasonable—and indeed almost inexplicable— superstitions. The
ownership of so fair an object as a fine opal must certainly be a
source of pleasure, and hence add to the good fortune of the owner.
Although
opal has been considered by some a stone of misfortune, black opal is
regarded as an exceptionally lucky stone. Formerly black opals were
artificially made by dipping the light-colored stone into ink, or by
allowing burnt oil to enter cracks in the stone produced by heating.
About the year 1900, however, a number of deposits of natural black
opals were found in the White Cliff region of New South Wales, whence
exceedingly beautiful gems have been secured, with wonderful flames of
green, red, and blue in a black field. Some of these have sold for
$1000 and even for a higher price, the smaller ones bringing from a
few dollars upward each. It has been claimed that $2,000,000 worth have
been sold from New South Wales. A remarkable example is figured on the
frontispiece of this volume. The late F. Marion Crawford was a great
admirer of this strangely beautiful variety of opal.
That ill-luck and good-luck are relative terms is shown
"Cardani, " De subtilitate," Basilea;, 1560, p. 445.
