The Case of the Missing Opals

I'm not superstitious, but...

Raw Opals. Photo by J D on Unsplash

INSPIRATION IS no respecter of occasions. It strikes at the most inconvenient times.

I was recently preparing to go out for lunch with my husband. It was my birthday, and although I am not a big fan of birthdays - I don’t do fun - I thought I’d better make an effort and at least put on some jewellery. I poked through the baubles he has given me over the thirty-one years we’ve been putting up with each other, and came across a ring he bought me in the mid-nineties. It has a history, and I thought you might like to hear about it, so I sat down to write.

The opal ring was the first significant trinket my husband bought me. I have always loved opals and I doted on the three pretty white stones set simply into a ridged gold band in an almost medieval style. When we saw it in the window of a local jeweller’s I knew it was the ring for me. At the time we had no intention of getting married, but it fitted nicely on the ring finger of my left hand. The milky little gems winked from their moderately chunky golden throne, and I had a funny rushing feeling when I looked down at them. I suppose it was a combination of their fragile yet fiery beauty, and the emotional bond they represented. I treasured that ring and removed it every time I washed my hands so that it wouldn’t get clogged with soap. Opals are soft stones, and I was determined to protect them. One day, however, it slipped from my grasp onto the porcelain wash basin. The drop can have been no more than six inches in total, but the top of one of the stones sheared off.

Photo by Jelleke Vanooteghem on Unsplash

My husband took the ring back to the jeweller’s to see whether the stone could be replaced. They did more than that: they replaced the whole ring free of charge. I was surprised by their understanding and although the ring was not the original, I could not have hoped for a better outcome. I was thrilled to have a perfect replacement, but the trials and tribulations of this little love token were by no means over.