Shakespeare described it like the queen of the stones.
All the colors of the rainbow shine in the reflections of the opal.
It is in southern Australia, that since more than one century ago the most beautiful opals in the world are being extracted.
The aboriginals called the "hole of the white men" the site where the town of
Coober Peddy was built.
Men excavate without rest all the area in search of the gem; they use dynamite and bulldozers to attain the seams of opal, but the means for locating it remain quite subjective, some use dowsing and others their experience. This part of Australia was formerly covered by the sea, which has now withdrawn, leaving important sediments filled with fossils. Since its formation, the opal was deposited in the remainders of prehistoric animals. Thus, a water dinosaur was found entirely opalized.
The jewelers at Dior use lighting ridge black opals, the rarest, to carry out one of the creations of Victoire de Castellane.

> Being prepared

At the South Pacific, in areas infested by sharks, mother-of-pearls give rise to a fascinating gem: the pearl.
Men gifted with a great expertise, surgically introduce nuclei into the shells. After two years of expecting and care, the pearl cultivators retrieve a pearl from the flesh of the animal. This wonder of animal and mineral creation takes us to a fascinating underwater world, but also to the universe of the jewelry and the fashion of Coco Chanel, who never left without wearing her pearls.


> Being prepared