Mid Century Gold Ring with Lightning Ridge Black Opal

Few Opals are as impressive as this black beauty, which has found a home in an iconic mid-century modern ring. The solid natural Black Opal, just over 1ct in size, screams with color from every angle- a kaleidoscope of green, blue, gold, and orange. The color pattern here is chaff meets harlequin, with brushstrokes and blocks of color which stack on top of each other. While this Opal has great brilliance of color, it is not overly directional- it is beautiful from every angle. The vintage mounting, with British hallmarks, was clearly designed to play off this color pattern- the Opal is bezel set in the center, then it is surrounded by textured gold blocks reminiscent of the chunks of color within the gem. The ring is not huge, but has a substantial presence on the hand, measuring over 1/2 inch long.

Details: vintage Opal ring in 9k yellow gold set with approximately 1.25ct Black Opal (Lightning Ridge, Australia) with textured gold accents, c.1970.