Posted 4 years ago
Peasejean55
(415 items)
I'm absolutely thrilled with this ring, its not often these days that you come across a ring like this at a reasonable price. At first I thought it was Bernard Instone with those beautiful leaves, now I'm leaning towards Edith Linnell, reason being because of the geometric lines, which you see in her work. The opals are gorgeous, I’m presuming they are Australian, hazard a guess lightening ridge, I know Paul will know, unfortunately on 2 of the opals there is a slight chip . Would love to know your opinion.
Many thanks for looking
Thank you six-0-one.
Gorgeous opal ring, the glowing stones and leaf design are so lovely
Awww, thank you Newfld. To be honest it’s been a long time since I came across something like this ring, they are very hard to come by these days.
Crystal opals of the highest quality. An exceptional piece!
Thank you Congcu, I thought they were Crystal Opals, they have wonderful colour, its nice that they are solid. Yet again I appreciate your help.
Hi Valentino, if the ring is Instone or Edith Linnell I would expect the ring to be circa 1930s. Its definitely Arts and Crafts. On the first photo the opal on the left you can see a chip on the dome and on the right there is a very tiny chip at the bottom, this you can hardly see. Many thanks for popping by.
I'm sure you noticed the opals radiance will change with ambient light levels/shade
variations. Do not wash the dishes when wearing it. Enjoy!
Awww, thanks Congcu. I'm taking the ring to my local antique jewellery shop. If you look at the photo from the back you can clearly see the mark silver with lots of horrible soldiering marks. Looking at the ring it does look to be gold so hopefully they can verify whether its gold or silver or both.
Hi Jean, cool ring, the opals are bright crystal opal, I think the ring is Edwardian and if so the opal will be from White Cliffs. It looks like there is a faint stamp opposite the SILVER mark (on the other side of the bars just past the solder)?
Gorgeous ! I love love opals :-)
Hi Paul,
Thanks for your comment, I’ve just visited my local antique jeweller who gave me some really interesting information. He thinks that the top was originally part of a clasp or a small brooch, the metal is silver gilt and has you say Crystal Opals. This is were it gets interesting, he thinks that about 60 or 70 years ago it was recycled or married into this ring. He said that the soldering work in his opinion was in the old style and they did a good just. He didn’t test the mount/ring but in his opinion it’s 15 ct or 18 ct gold. He said the top is from the 1910 - 20s and somebody took a lot of time and effect in converting it into a ring, the clasp or brooch was well loved.
Awww, thank you Manikin, I’m also very partial to Opals, these are radiant in colour, I love them.
We all live and learn valentino, I had no idea it was a marriage. Somebody took a great deal and thought of saving a hopefully treasured Gem. I would still love to know who was the designer/maker of the wonderful, original clasp/brooch. I feel I have a unique piece of history, I would love to know it’s story.
I love that this beautiful piece was saved and made into a wearable treasure. I think we should honour the fact that someone valued it enough to spend time and money on it. I love it Jean it speaks of another time when things were really treasured. Those bars do look a bit Linnell ish but the leaves don’t to me . Hey ! who am I to judge a mere baby at this !!! Who ever made it it’s very pretty and wearable and one day you will spot something so similar you will know.
Hi Sue, it’s nice to see you. I see you have looked at your post of the brooch, it’s weird when you are looking for something else you come across these past pieces that have been posted.
Yes I see what you mean about the leaves very Bernard Instone ish lol. My jeweller explained to me it was quite common for marriages, it wasn’t a throw away society in them days so they would recycle.
Hi Jean, I hope you are well. I can see why you'd think Linnell, on the face of it - she used those distinctive curved lines. However, if you look at her work, it's hand made in the Arts & Crafts tradition. You can see the hand made assembly of her work from the reverse - and that's completely absent here. Also, as far as I'm aware she didn't mark her work silver. Someone who knows more about Instone's work than I do told me that it's a thing for pieces of Instone to be attributed to Linnell. Which is interesting because I think Linnell was quite prolific in her output. Like many female Arts & Crafts jewellers she's under-documented and getting a good grasp of her work is difficult. If I had to make a guess I'd say you have one of a pair of Instone earrings. Makes a great ring (but I tell you that lead solder is a stinker to try & clean up).
Hi Jewels1900, it’s great to hear from you, I hope you and your family are well. I’m still in the UK, I’m hoping to go back to Spain soon.
It’s interesting that you say this, my first reaction was Bernard Instone especially because of the leaves they are so Bernard Instone. I was thrown with the curve lines, I’ve looked online for Bernard Instone Earrings and jewellery in general and I haven’t come across these geometric lines in his jewellery. I’ve also looked at Sybil Dunlop pieces, has you know he designed jewellery for the company when they reopened in 1945, nothing. It’s interesting that you also think that the soldiering is rough, how would I get the soldiering off, at least get it to a neat finish.
Yet again thank you for your valued information.
Hi Jean, we are all well thanks very much. A few extra bits of info for you. About 2 minutes after responding to you, I found a bit of Linnell that had a silver mark on it. The silver mark was stamped on a tag & applied. Also, I have a ring possibly by Linnell. The foliage work is not what I know for Linnell, however there's a particular design on the shoulders of the shank which is comparable to an attributable Linnell ring. Interestingly the top is set on top of the ring like yours. It's big enough that it could have originally been made as a brooch then adapted to the ring. But the design and wear on the shank suggest that it was made into a ring during the period (and it's all silver). Anyhow, the solder on your ring is blooby, it looks like it was done with the stones in situ. An experienced jeweller would have removed the stones & done a neater job, likely with silver solder which is stronger (they use lead solder because you don't have to heat it to as high a temperature - the heating cracks the stones). My jeweller hates lead solder, apparently it undermines the strength of the silver (either the solder itself or the removal of the solder) so he gets the tut tut on (he's a perfectionist). I think those blobs of solder are holding the centre stone in place so probably just let it be. Even if you have a good jeweller who could remove the stones, restore the solder it will still likely ruin the gilt finish. I try to have my jewellery properly restored to make sure it's ready for it's next 100 years, but sometimes a piece is a rescue and you live with it's history - which you seem happy to do so it's winner-winner chicken dinner!
And those leaves are very very Instone. I'm with you on that one.
Hi Jewels1900, thanks for the farther information. I would really love to see that ring, then maybe I could have a comparison. Yes I’ll leave it alone, as you say it has
history and somebody went to a lot of trouble to recycle it. Did they recycle back in the day, when maybe they lost a earring or a broken brooch etc. As my jeweller said we now live in a throw away society, interesting to see if I could spot another, could I say another hybrid.
Many thanks
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