A BRILIANT Company came up with the idea to prepare a subject publication on a unique gemstone – Slovak noble opal.

Because of docent Luigi Costantini, Italian gemmologist, who had visited the opal mines on Dubník several times, the long-awaited publication finally made its appearance after 10 years of work:

The publication is an attempt to deal out historical justice to the Slovak opal and to present its long-time journey. In individual chapters, the Italian author Luigi Costantini explains the genesis of opals in the Old Continent, dealing in detail with the oldest opal mines in the world – mines in the locality of Dubník, Slanské vrchy in the Eastern Slovakia. In reading, follow the author down to the opal mines, see the work of the miners, digging and processing opals in the past, and learn about reasons to stop the extraction in the last century. The book also contains geological maps of the area as well as description of the deposit and detailed technical specification of Slovak opal. Besides many other information, the author explains grading of Slovak opals and describes in detail the factors affecting its quality.

The publication was released in cooperation and with kind support of ViViT Publishing House Kežmarok in 2005, in original English version and Slovak translation. If you are interested, you can buy the book in BRILIANT jewellery stores, or you can order it via e-mail at the address briliant(at)briliant(dot)sk.

The price for Slovak version: 39,00 EUR (1174,91 SKK)
The price for English version: 72,00 EUR (2167,07 SKK)