Lapis Pearl Ring

An antique ring that is still unique enough to cause quite a stir among ring enthusiasts is the Lapis Pearl Ring. This ring is made up of three major elements: gold, lapis lazuli (a semi-precious stone), and pearls. The pearls, gold, and smaller pieces of lapis are usually arraigned around the centerpiece of the ring, a huge, flawless piece of lapis. These rings are generally anywhere from one and a quarter to one and a half inches in diameter, so if you are not into large, old-fashioned flashy jewelry, than this is definitely not the ring for you.

Lapis, although a beautiful shade of blue, is not commonly used in that much jewelry anymore due to its often steep price. Lapis has been around since the middle ages and is mined almost exclusively in Badakhshan, Afghanistan, for the last six thousand years or so. It has had a long, luxurious life as a prized stone that has been used in everything from rings and ornaments to carvings and paint. Its brilliant shade of blue even helped it get is name as lapis lazuli literally means “stone of azure.”

It was in fact the mines near Badakhshan that were the source of lapis for ancient Egyptian and Mesopotamian cultures. Lapis is even referred to in the Egyptian book of the Dead as a stone with great power if shaped into an eye and set into gold. Most lapis pearl rings accomplished this by having the center stone be cut into a long oval and placed inside its gold foundation going vertically like a cat’s pupils.

However, lapis is not the only factor of many of these large rings. There are also the precious pearls that also adorn the ring. Real pearls are made when a piece of matter gets embedded in an oyster. The oyster then released a chemical, nacre, which coats the matter and turns into the beautiful white gems we are so enamored with.

The pearls that typically adorn these rings are known as seed pearls and are carefully scattered between the deposits of lapis and the latticework of the gold to help enhance the contrast between the dark blue stone and the yellow gold. A typical ring of this nature will have anywhere from twenty to twenty five seed pearls embedded in it.

The gold is also of the highest quality on these rings and is generally at least fourteen karats. It is important to remember that the higher the karat of gold is, the more malleable it is, therefore, you would not want to trust some of the twenty four karat gold to hold the large stones in place properly. So, don’t go thinking that you absolutely must have the highest quality of gold on this ring. It isn’t about the gold in this ring’s case, it is about the stones that are adorning it.

It is not that common to find these types of rings selling for less than a thousand dollars, so if this is the type of ring that interests you, then you should be sure to save up your money and check all of the local estate sells in your area and online because that is likely to be your best bet for acquiring this type of jewelry at a reasonable price.