Cross Jewelers – Opal story

“There is in them a softer fire than the ruby, there is the brilliant purple of the amethyst, and the sea green of the emerald – all shining together in incredible union. Some by their splendor rival the colors of the painters, others the flame of burning sulphur or of fire quickened by oil.”

So the Roman naturalist Pliny the Elder wrote of the opal, in the first century A.D. Down through the centuries, the rare, raw beauty of the “queen of gems” has been discovered around the world – in Mexico, Brazil, central Europe, and the western United States.

Most recently, opal has been found in Mali in West Africa, and in Ethiopia. In a cave in Kenya, an archaeologist several decades ago found opal artifacts dating from 4,000 B.C.

Today, the principal source of supply is southern Australia, whose mines provide about 90 percent of the world’s opals. Since their discovery in the mid-19th century, the legendary Australian opal fields have exerted a powerful pull on gemologists from all over the world.

Among the most prolific and best-known Australian sites is a tiny town called Coober Pedy; and it was to this remote outpost that Stephen Pride of Cross Jewelers recently traveled to experience first-hand the process of opal mining.

It’s a long, 40-hour trip from Portland, Maine to southern Australia, but in undertaking the journey Pride was following in a Cross Jewelers tradition. Stephen’s father, Cross owner Ralph Pride, has visited sites as nearby as Mount Mica in South Paris, Maine and as far-flung as diamond mines in South Africa. His purpose: To know Cross’ gems and jewelry as thoroughly as possible, from their origins until the time they are taken to heart by a customer.

“It’s very unusual for a jeweler to research products to this extent, but businesses that are actually creating jewelry have a very different kind of relationship to their pieces,” says Karen Pride, Cross marketing director.

“Because it’s more of a personal thing, and because we do our best to know who our customers are and what they are looking for, complete knowledge of the gems helps us match them with customers who respond to the qualities we find in them.”

For his part, Stephen Pride says that “when you’re on the retail side of the business, you can become a little bit detached from the hands-on side of gems and jewelry. You appreciate its beauty, but you’re not as close to the process, the hard work and everything that goes into a piece, from the time it’s found until the time it’s finished.

“That’s why we like to go out into the field. Anything we can learn helps us to understand the product better, and convey the essence of the product better to our customers.”

Stephen’s journey took him to Sydney, then to Adelaide, the capital of South Australia and a city of more than 1.1 million people – and finally more than 500 miles north into the Outback to Coober Pedy (population approximately 3,000). Stephen and his host drove for eight hours through the desert on the Stuart Highway, in a Land Rover-style vehicle outfitted with a refrigerator unit to hold enough water to cover emergencies. Most of the journey was undertaken in daylight, the better to see and avoid potentially hazardous kangaroos, cattle and ostriches in the road.

Stopping now and then to take photographs, taking in the scenes of wildlife, giant salt lakes, and grassy plains resembling the African veldt, they arrived in greater Coober Pedy as the sun dipped below the horizon. Stephen explains that the mining area outside the little town extends for 40 miles north to south and includes approximately 1.8 million mine shafts. “When we first entered the area, it was amazing – huge mounds silhouetted against the fading night sky,” he remembers.

As he would see the following morning, the stark landscape is also distinguished by Cooper Pedy’s unusual architecture. Many people live underground – or rather, in what are called dugouts, i.e. homes carved into the hillsides, where residents can enjoy a kind of natural air conditioning. Summer heat, after all, ranges from 120 to 140 degrees Fahrenheit during the day.

Rainfall in the region averages 5 inches per year. Some years there is no rain at all. Vegetation consists of low shrubs. The one “tree” in town was built of metal by a man who wanted his children to be able to climb one. The golf course is grassless, its “greens” oiled sand.

But not for nothing is Coober Pedy called “The Opal Wonderland of Australia” (the title of a book about the town). The main street is named after Willie Hutchinson, the 14-year-old who inadvertently discovered opals there in 1915 (apparently he was looking for water for the gold prospectors with whom he was traveling). The town identity is also reflected in its name, which means “white man’s burrow” in Aborigine.

And while far smaller than distant Adelaide, where its opals are cut, polished and finished, Cooper Pedy is perhaps equally cosmopolitan, with some 45 nationalities represented among its tiny population. It’s also well-known as a destination for adventurous tourists, and as a movie location. Mel Gibson’s “Mad Max: Beyond Thunderdome” is among several features filmed there.

If not for its opals, of course, the town would probably not exist. After a quick dinner on the evening of their arrival, Stephen and host headed out to visit observe operations at several mining sites under an “incredible night sky, with no light pollution, or trees or hills on the horizon. Pretty spectacular.”

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