Opal mines were visited by Prof. Dr. František Slávik, an important Czech mineralogist, to assess the condition of mines and choose the next procedure.
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During the reign of Joseph II., the company Neumány and Koletsch received exclusive mining rights.
After World War I, Austria-Hungary fell apart and opal mines became part of Czechoslovakia.
In 1775, the largest opal in the world was found at the bottom of the stream in Červenica, known as Harlequin. He weighed 607 grams and was rated 700,000 Dutch guilders. Today it is deposied in the collection of the Natural History Museum in Vienna.
Until 1911, the State had been running the opal mines. Although there were efforts to sell them, the candidates withdrew from the contract as a result of the outbreak of the World War I.
Anselmus de Boodt, personal physician of Emperor Rudolf II. and founder of modern mineralogy, describes in his work Gemmarum et Lapidum an old, overcast mine for precous opal, confirming the presence of mining in the Slánske vrchy mountains long before the first written mention of it.
In 1903, the opal grinding was terminated in Dubník.
The search for magic opal was successful. This is evidenced by the order of Emperor Rudolf II, addressed to Stefan Kecer of Pekľany, ordering him to make his land accessible to the mining of precious stones. This written document confirms that the opal mine by Červenec is officially the oldest..Dozvedieť sa viac…
By the Ministry of Finance Decree in Budapest, opal mines were put into operation by the State.
The first written mention of precious opal in our territory comes from 14th May 1597, when Emperor Rudolf II. of Habsburg gave permission to Albert the Great, considered the greatest thinker of the Middle Ages, to seek the rare opal throughout Historic Hungary.