Victorian Hardstone Cameo Ring of St George

A fearsome dragon nests by the spring where the local people of Silene gather their water supply. In order to collect enough water for the city, the people must make a sacrifice to this beast and distract him from his nest. When they discover they have sacrificed all their sheep, a beautiful helpless maiden must go instead. One day, the name of the princess is called! Just as she is being offered to the dragon a saint appears...St. George to the rescue! He not only slays the dragon and rescues the princess but converts the Pagan citizens to Christianity.

Saint George is depicted on this striking hardstone cameo of banded agate.The carver was skilled indeed and much detail is revealed when viewed under magnification.You can see the signs of carving and polishing on this cameo, this is truly a piece of art!

Saint George is set in a 14 karat pink gold ring which dates to circa 1870.Originally this would have been worn by a man, but today would equally compliment a woman's hand.

CONDITION & MEASUREMENTS

This ring was well loved and obviously worn often. There has been minor repair work done to the shoulder of the ring at one time which resulted in a variance of the gold color.Only slightly different, but if we see it we reveal it! The bottom of the shank of the ring is getting thin but we have left it as is because we do not know the ultimate sizing that may be required for its new owner. Sizing down may allow the jeweler to use the original pink gold to build up the shank to avoid a major change in color to the gold. If it ultimately needs to be sized up we would recommend having a totally new shank put on and again possibly the original gold could be used to help keep the change in gold color to a minimum.

We also believe that there has been a repair done to the dragon on the helmet as there is an empty space which seems to disconnect his tail. Under magnification you can see slight wear to the peak of the helmet, as well as a naturally occurring fracture in the stone which is located towards the back of the helmet.You cannot see this under normal conditions and is something that is original to the stone itself.

This back of the cameo has the #178 scratched into the stone which would have been done by the jeweler who repaired the ring. You often find these types of numbers inside watches.

The ring is currently a size 8 and weighs 7.8 grams. There are no marks to the gold ring. It was acid tested to be 14 karat.

ITEM # hdst1 / 94E003

COST IS $1200 USD

 

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