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    The Queen Alexandra Black Opal Archived Message

    Posted by Beth on July 4, 2015, 4:14 am

    I was amazed to see a report in the Australian press regarding an opal named the Queen Alexandra Black Opal!! http://trove.nla.gov.au/ndp/del/article/114751529?searchTerm=ruby%20AND%20%22Queen%20Alexandra%22&searchLimits=exactPhrase=Queen+Alexandra|||anyWords|||notWords|||requestHandler|||dateFrom|||dateTo|||l-advcategory=Article|||sortby There are 2 other such reports.

    The name astounded me as, before this time (1908) it was widely reported that Queen Alexandra considered opals unlucky and, in some reports, it was said that Edward VII rejected the offer of the so called Imperial Opal for the Crown Regalia because of Queen Alexandra's feelings/beliefs. (However, it is not yet clear to me if Edward VII accepted that opal as a personal gift -as opposed to a gem for use in the Crown Regalia as originally proposed)

    Does anyone know anything else about the so called Alexandra Opal? I have not found anything else in the Australian press so far. So far, I have not found any suggestion that it was given to Queen Alexandra, but the fact it was named after her is intriguing, given her known antipathy to the gemstone.

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