Diamonds and precious stones, a popular account of gems .. . hat,after cutting, will display all the storied fire of theopal are very rare. Beginning at the resinite quartz without fissures,and consequently without fire, and choosing suc-cessively fragments more and more closely fissureduntil the maximum is reached of the effect of light, Mr THE OPAL. l6l an endless series of opals is obtained ; but in com-merce only three varieties are recognized— The Oriental Fire Common Opal. The oriental opal, called also the noble opal andthe harlequin opal, shows generally in its fire a
Diamonds and precious stones, a popular account of gems .. . hat,after cutting, will display all the storied fire of theopal are very rare. Beginning at the resinite quartz without fissures,and consequently without fire, and choosing suc-cessively fragments more and more closely fissureduntil the maximum is reached of the effect of light, Mr THE OPAL. l6l an endless series of opals is obtained ; but in com-merce only three varieties are recognized— The Oriental Fire Common Opal. The oriental opal, called also the noble opal andthe harlequin opal, shows generally in its fire a tri-angular disposition very characteristic. It exhibitsflashes or flames of the most brilliant colours. The affection that the ancients entertained forthis beautiful gem was unbounded. The Romansenator Nonnius preferred exile to parting with abrilliant opal the size of a filbert, which MarkAntony coveted. A very beautiful opal, considered by the virtuosiof Vienna and Dresden as the third in rank of thebeautiful opals of the world, is described by Jack-. Fig. 73.—Opal of DAugny. son as having three longitudinal bands of the harle-quin kind, from the uppermost of which rose perpen-dicularly the most resplendent flames. It measured 11 l62 PRECIOUS STONES. nine lines by six. In the last century the two mostfamous opals belonged, one, round and very brilliant,to the amateur Fleury; the other, fascinatinglyvivid—an oval of the dimensions of Fig. 73—to thedistinguished financier DAugny. The fire opal is furnished principally by colour, more pronounced than that of the orien-tal opal, and the carmine or vinous red tint of itsfires, permits it to be easily recognized. At itsmaximum of effect the fire opal is brilliantly lovely;but its beauty is easily deteriorated by atmosphericinfluence. The common opal displays very little fire; itscolour is milk-white, which, joined to a texture ex-tremely homogeneous, renders it semi-transparent. It is said that since the opal w
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1800, bookdecade1870, booksubjectgems, booksubjectprec
