AUCTION HOUSE HIGHLIGHTS
OPALS Melanie Saleem of Elstob & Elstob charts the history of a fascinating gemstone
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pals are unique amongst precious and semiprecious stones, renowned for their mesmerising iridescence and ability to reflect back a huge variety of different colours. But their popularity has waxed and waned over the centuries, explains Melanie Saleem, jewellery expert at Ripon auction house Elstob & Elstob. Thanks to their ethereal, otherworldly quality some ancient cultures associated opals with lightning. Others, including the ancient Greeks, treasured them because they believed these mysterious stones gave their owners the power of prophecy, says Melanie.
In the UK opals took a sharp dip in popularity in the 1830s, gaining the reputation of being an unlucky stone – a change in attitudes often attributed to Sir Walter Scott. In 1829 the immensely popular novelist published Anne of Geierstein, in which a character who wears an opal amulet comes to a nasty end. Many superstitious readers decided to steer clear of the stone. Queen Victoria, however, did her bit to turn the tide, not only enthusiastically wearing opals herself but giving them as gifts – excellent news for the nascent Australian opal mining industry.
Dales Life | WINTER 2022 |
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