I just wear mine (including my engagement ring). Most of them are "old" opals -- lots of blues and greens. Some, like my engagement ring, are set in old-style rose gold -- not the garish newfangled bright pink rose gold.

I also have several black opals.

A lot of mine were acquired at antique shops or pawn shops (which, when I had money, I haunted for interesting and undervalued jewelry) -- I was once chased down the street by a woman who worked for a local downtown pawn shop crying, "Hey, Opal Lady! Hey, Opal Lady!"

I do have one unpolished opal that an old acquaintance gave me. It lives in a box. Sure looks nice when I spit on it...

No. Opals are not my birthstone. (But they are my mother's.) I just love opals. I often forget to take them off when doing gardening, yard work, or rough jobs. And I've been very lucky. And I don't do anything special to store them between wearings.

I'm sure they like the vitamin E oil I'm rubbing on Tom's leg...

Linn