All children love small pebbles. Children like to collect colourful pebbles and decorate them at home. As a kid, I used to love collecting stones. The story of lost gold mines, buried black opal necklace and priceless gems has increased my appetite for stones. Of course, the pebbles I collected were just beautiful stones, smoothed by distant currents, ending up in my dirty pockets.As a teenager, I once visited the Natural History Museum in New York and was fascinated by gem collections. The world's largest crystal ball, a replica of the Hope Diamond and an opal weighing over a hundred pounds have all entered my dreams. A few years later I would choose geology as my college major.

1. OPAL’S UNDISCOVERED BEAUTY
All children love small pebbles. Children like to collect colourful pebbles and decorate them
at home. As a kid, I used to love collecting stones. The story of lost gold mines, buried black
opal necklace and priceless gems has increased my appetite for stones. Of course, the
pebbles I collected were just beautiful stones, smoothed by distant currents, ending up in my
dirty pockets.As a teenager, I once visited the Natural History Museum in New York and was
fascinated by gem collections. The world's largest crystal ball, a replica of the Hope
Diamond and an opal weighing over a hundred pounds have all entered my dreams. A few
years later I would choose geology as my college major.
In my twenties, while looking at accessories in a government surplus australian opal, I saw a
three hundred watt ultraviolet spotlight with its high voltage transformer. Spending only five
dollars, it prompted me to ask the owner what it might be used for. He told me that it was
used to detect defects in the manufacture of weapons, but other than that, he could think of
only one other use to make visible specific fluorescent materials.I immediately thought of
mineral fluorite which glows in ultraviolet light. So I bought it.A visit to the local library
created a beautiful book on fluorescent minerals with gorgeous pictures of bright mineral
specimens in pure rainbow colours under a UV lamp. Most of these rare minerals occurred
in mines around the world, but one source of these collectible rocks was only twenty miles
from my home!The next day, on my way to Franklin, New Jersey, I was glad to meet him.
Seeing a sign near this small town in the Franklin Museum ad for Fluorescent Rocks, I
stopped to get directions. I was taken to a large Victorian house, and an old man at the door
greeted me. In his living room were several glass cases filled to the brim with grey-looking
dusty rocks, each of which was carefully labelled.The collector explained that the colours
look very pale during the day but if I want to see the full effect, I welcome to see the
collection in his cellar. In a large, low-roofed room covered with the same grey stone shelf as
the upper floor, the flight of glittering wooden steps opened. I was still not impressed. He
then turned on the ultraviolet tube and turned off the regular white light. A fantasy of colour
strikes my eye.Every tone of orange, from peach to tangerine, screams in rich yellow, azure
blues, and a combination of lacy patterns from intense red walls. I crawled as soon as I
tested each sample, the owner explained where each sample came from, how much it cost
and how rare it was.My head was spinning with the colourful pictures published in the
invisible ultraviolet light. I asked him if it was possible to get some samples for my own
collection opal rings for sale. He told me about the many ore tailings of the ancient mines in
the vicinity which undoubtedly have many good specimens to collect, but were very difficult
to distinguish from the mass of useless stone. Immediately I thought about my powerful UV
spotlight and how it allows me to easily discover valuable specimens.The next weekend, I
put the spotlight on the old mine and luckily it was, a small, secluded hut located away from
the tailings. An old man came out and I told him about my search. He realised then and
suggested using his electricity to plug in my fifty foot extension cord. He advised me to wait
until it was dark to start.Later in the night, I returned to the scene with Happy Samaritan
waiting. As the spotlight warmed up, a buzz filled the air. Then, as the invisible spotlight
flashed on the grey rocky mountain, innumerable lights shone like distant galaxies in the
emptiness of space. Climbing up the steep slope, I chose the brightest and most colourful
pattern until I had more to carry.Like the hidden talents of ordinary people, my collection has

2. failed to impress our science-prone viewers with the amazing and wonderful light emanating
from the flat, grey, ordinary-looking stone.