“Opal has fire of the carbuncle, the brilliant purple of the amethyst, and the

 sea-green of the emerald, all shining together in incredible union.” Pliny the Elder.

With all the variety of gemstones in the world, it is no wonder so many studies and interests have sprung up, including gemstone book collecting. Such enthusiasts may seek out gemstone literary works by Harry Emanuel (Diamonds and Precious Stones) or Edwin W Streeter (The Great Diamonds of the World), but Hans E R De Boer, a Dutch-born mechanical engineering draftsman turned author, collects books and various publications exclusively on opals.

In 1965 Hans left the Netherlands for Australia, the world’s most conductive environment for any opal enthusiast. His interest in opals began while researching his new environment. Window shopping in jewelry stores was part of this study and with it the discovery of opals.

“Shop windows of jewelers displayed some kind of stones that showed a miraculous change of spectral colors whenever I moved my position. When I went inside one shop to ask what I was looking at, they informed me it was opal. I was hooked instantly,” Hans said.

The next logical step after being love struck is to learn more of the object of passion. Hans scoured book shops to read up on opals, and hence the beginning of his book and publication collection. After 30 years, Hans has managed to accumulate 250 books and pamphlets on opals in a variety of languages.

Finding books on opals id just as difficult as finding a high quality sample of the colorful gemstone. With the diligence of a gemstone miner, Hans would sift though “mega” bookstores when visiting large cities. On the average, second-hand book sections stocked thousands and thousands of books, forcing Hans to pursue his quests for opal publications until the store closed.

“After a while I developed my instincts where to look. When I’d finish my hands would be as black as those of a car mechanic,” Hans said.

Australia dominates the opal market, but does not have a monopoly on reading material regarding its national gemstone. In researching opal publications, Hans’s travels have brought him to Europe, the United States and Mexico.

“Then you find yourself lugging kilos of books in trains, trams and city buses to get home or back to your hotel. I have produced buckets of sweat in my book hunting efforts,” he said.

Closer to home, Hans embarked on various trips, including a 28,000 km tour of Australia, in part, to search for opal related publications. In addition to exploring opal mines and fields, many book shops and stores were explored. Of course every road trip has its stories.

“We stockpiled so many opal books in our car that we came home with a bent rear wheel strut, which caused two new tires to wear out completely,” he said. Another incident proved Hans’ opal hobby and cars just don’t seem to mix. When an opportunity presented itself to purchase a collector stone, Hans sold his vehicle to obtain this gem.

The results of these experiences and excursions has lead to a network of people-book store owners, organizations, associations, libraries and publishers-as primary contacts to help add to the ever growing collection of opal publications.

Although many books are difficult to find or are out of print, the many experiences the hobby has created offer inspiration to continue advancing his collection. Once in a great while a remarkable book find may come by mail from Germany, or when a coincidental encounter at the Smithsonian Museum in Washington, DC with the son of an opal miner from Querétaro, Mexico, leads to a personalized tour of the mining town, and, of course, an opal book and some Mexican opal samples.

Like many collectors, Hans is partial to certain items which make up his series of publications. One if his favorites is the book which brought the Australian opal to the world market, Tullie Cornthwaite Wollaston’s Opal, the Gem of the Never, Never, published in 1924. The antiquity value of the book is paled when compared to the author’s tales. Wollaston writes of his adventures by camel through Australian deserts at searing heat of 118º F in the shade to visit an isolated opal miner who supposedly had a parcel of quality opal. After obtaining his first parcel of opals in Queensland, Wollaston’s enthusiasm for the gemstone could have been quashed when he tried to introduce opal to European and US markets, which proved to be difficult.

Other notable additions to Hans’s collection include E F (Ted) Murphy’s They Struck Opal, published in 1948l, and Sydney Skertchly’s book entitled The Story of the Noble Opal, written in 1908. According to Hans, the two authors had seen some of the rarest opals of superb quality in mining history.

Some books are as rare as fine black opals. For instance, the 16-page pamphlet Rare Opals, published in 1915 by Percy Mark, went under the hammer at an Australian auction for $1,550 (nearly US $1,280).

Opals, by Rebecca Bingham, stands out in the collection because of its size, which is smaller than most postage stamps.”It is top gilded and ornately stamped in gold on the hard-bound cover with the title on the spine. It has some illustrations and the text is readable by people with average eyesight.” Hans said.