Opals

I love them, they are my favourite gem and I have 7 of them in my engagement ring! Earrings, necklaces all worn regularly.

However, the men who bought some of them for me have been very unlucky - they lost me. DBH hasn't though and he bought most of them.

I too love opals and have two glorious opal rings, which I wear as often as possible.

Opals are considered 'unlucky' because they do change in size with ambient temperature and break easily, and I have both broken and lost opals in the past for those reasons but no inanimate object can possibly be, of itself, unlucky. It is purely coincidental.

I might as well say sapphires are unlucky because I was wearing a sapphire ring when my sister died and the day DD had her road accident. I was also wearing underwear, shoes, a wedding ring, a whole series of identical items on the days these disasters happened. Opals are no more likely to bring good luck/bad luck than they are.

I am October born , so Opals are my birth stone and must admit am rather partial to them. I have necklaces, rings, ear-rings and bracelets. I just love the way they capture the light and change in colour - magical !

However, I HAVE heard that they are unlucky for folk born in other months .

I have not heard that story about any other gemstone .

Apparently the Romans considered opals to be GOOD luck and "it is well documented in Roman history that the Caesars gave their wives opals for good luck." They were so valuable that those who had the good luck to possess them put it about that they were unlucky so as to discourage those who didn't from trying to get their hands on them. www.opalsdownunder.com.au/learn-about-opals/introductory/are-opals-bad-luck

42% of marriages in England and Wales end in divorce. so you and your daughter stood almost a 50/50 change of your marriages ending whether or not you wore that ring.

If things like wearing opals, and birds flying into the house spook you, then I am afraid you are superstitious, though you think you are not. But fear not - bad things happen to people who are superstitious and people who are not superstitious in equal proportions, so you are not in any danger from the dreaded opal curse

I love opals and have quite a few rings, brooches and necklaces which are mostly antique, all bought by DH, but my favourite item is an opal bracelet which he also bought.

My Mum had a fabulous opal and diamond engagement ring which she sold because she thought it was the cause of all her bad luck. As things stand, she is leaving her replacement engagement ring to my brother's ex fiance so it doesn't matter as I wouldn't have got it anyway.

I have several opal items and love them. I think the theory about I'll luck is due to the ease with which they can be damaged.
Incidentally, I think they're a liquid as is glass (Bags will know)

I will repeat ,I have not heard the theory of other gemstones being unlucky!!

My mother had a wonderful opal ring. She always told me that opals are unlucky because they were so likely to fall out and get lost. We never did find the ring after she died, presumably she had followed her usual habit of hiding valuables in weird places and we had unknowingly thrown it out. I suppose it proves it was unlucky!

deedaa the other week we visited a historic house in Georgetown, South Carolina.
The house had been left to the city in 1972 by a lady called Julia Kaminski. About 20 years later, the trustees got round to having the curtains and soft furnishings in her bedroom cleaned.
Sewn into the skirt around her dressing table was a diamond brooch that was later valued at $76,000.

They're my birthstone too, and I love them. I think of all the gemstones they are the most mystical. They don't shine like sapphires or emeralds (both of which I like) but they have a magical quality. They are supposed to reflect the emotion of the wearer, though I can't say I've noticed that with the fairly low-grade one I have in my ring... I have a v. good friend who bought a 'blue' opal on a visit to Australia . I went green with envy when I saw it... but I hid it well. It's a real bit of blinge, bought from the hotel display cabinet after she had enjoyed a good night out in Sidney .
I was ever so good .... I was tempted to say" But if opals aren't your birthstone they are bad luck", but I didn't.
I was even 'gooder' 'cos she frequently reminds me that she never wears 'costume' jewellery(like what I do). But despite all that she's still my VG friend of 40 years!

Not my birthstone but my engagement ring which DH bought 48 years ago on an antiques stall in the Portobello Road is a Victorian setting of 5 large blue opals. Still together after 44+ years of marriage so "pshaw!" to superstition!

My sister in law has an opal engagement ring. They have been marriedperfectly happily for 43 years. They have had nothing more than the usual good / bad luck of life. Worry not, just sheer superstition how on earth could such an inanimate object cause any problem ?

Any item someone thinks is lucky/unlucky is so because of the way the owner feels and thinks and acts in the presence/absence of the object, not because there is any intrinsic power of luck/bad luck in the object itself.

Luck doesn't actually exist... The OP's friend with the fear of opals (?) is living in la-la loopy land...

I beg to differ Feetle, how can you say that.
There have been many ,many times in my life where I have been VERY,VERY lucky

But it's all down to chance. Chance favoured you on those occasions.

DBH is a mathematician. I have all this drummed into me on a regular basis.

Well my response, JANER is thank you God for chance, certainly seems to have stood by me !!

Feetle Of course there's luck. This is for you.
And for Specki's friend.
Cream singing Born under a Bad Sign

Feetle was probably there!

Thinking about it, believing in luck is a psychological prop.
If things go wrong, you can believe it's because you're down on your luck, instead of thinking that you're a complete loser.
And if things go well, and you attribute that to your good luck instead of your own diligence, or astuteness, that is something to be grateful for.

I've just read somewhere that a sense of gratitude is one of the hallmarks of a happy person, so overall, believing in luck can cushion you from life's blows, and make you even more appreciative of life's joys.

Even so, I don't believe in the power of inanimate objects to bestow luck, either good or bad.

Ana

Golly gosh 20.44 I have to say I agree with your third paragraph big time!!
I send you Good Karma, as I am also a great believer in that Too!