Salt Lake Tribune | 1919-11-02 | Page 43 | Mining Mexican Opals Resumed

MINING liEXiGAN optmpio Fiery Gems Are Found in Beds of Volcanic Ashes Near Moscow, Idaho. Mexican opals are likely soon, to appear ap-pear plentifully on the market again. Inasmuch In-asmuch as mining for them has been resumed re-sumed in the districts whence Jewelers obtained supplies before the war. From that source we have been accustomed ac-customed to get most of our "fire" opals, which are very beautiful and brilliant, with flaming hues. This variety, however, how-ever, is less highly esteemed than the so-called so-called "noble" opal, which is whitish, translucent, and shot through with, gleams of all colors of the rainbow. Remarkably fine opals, many of them "noble," are obtained from the neighborhood neighbor-hood of Moscow, In Idaho, where they are found in beds of volcanic ashes. Apparently Appar-ently their material was deposited . by water while the ashes wore hot, and masses of-cold cinder, when broken open, reveal the gem stones. Opals are in certain respects altogether peculiar among gem stones and more interesting in-teresting among gem stones and more ln-gems, ln-gems, such as the ruby, the emerald and the sapphire, owe their colors to mineral elements by which the crystals are stained, the brilliant tints of the opal are due to its structure, ever so many minute cracks reflecting lights at different angles from their edges. An amethyst is quartz crystal stainea with manganese. Opal is crystal of another an-other variety, containing from G to 13 per cent of water. BoLh are formed by the deposition of silica from water, and It was in this way that three molluscan shells transformed into opal, recently given to Harvard college, underwent their strange metamorphosis. The shells were in a rock; their limy material dissolved out and was replaced, particle by particle, par-ticle, with water-borne silica. The most famous gem of the kind is the Hopo opal, formerly the property of Henry Philip Hope, a Dutch banker, who owned the finest collection of precious stones ever got together. He liquidated the national debt of Brazil and took his pay in diamonds, which originally inspired him with his hobby. Among his treasures treas-ures were the celebrated Hope diamond and the largest existing pearl, drop-shaped drop-shaped and weighing three ounces. The Hope opal (now owned by "art American Amer-ican millionaire)- is believed to have come originally from Mexico, but in the seventeenth seven-teenth century it adorned a Persian shrine. It represents the sun an object i of worship In Persia with full face carved on its surface and rays supplied by an j antique gold setting. Oval in shape, it is an inch in longest diameter. Kansas City Star.