THE FIRE OF “MAGIC GLOBE” “Tis that miracle and queen of gems,” so famously described by Shakespeare, actually refers to opal. Opals are made up of tiny silica spherical particles in great numbers. Their colours are the result of light waves diffracted through these silica spheres. Pliny, a natural scientist of ancient Rome, noted: “For in them you shall see the living fire of ruby, the glorious purple of the amethyst and the sea-green of the emerald, all glittering together beautifully in an incredible mixture of light.” Opal comes in a variety of colour, including black opal, white opal, fire opal and water opal. The play-of-colour is kaleidoscopic. The more and the stronger the play-of-colour, the higher is the value of the opal. Similarly, the bigger the size of the opal, the more valuable is to collect the coveted stone. Every opal is unique and different in its own way. Given their scarce yearly outputs, the best of these stones are exceedingly rare and this determines their market prices. Their play-of-colour and unique forms, combined with their beautiful glitter, have provided jewellery designers with boundless inspiration while putting their intelligence and judgment of material choices to the test.