Vintage 10K White Gold Multi Gemstone Birthstone Mother's Ring, 1950s Vtg Sz 7.5

Description: Vintage 10K White Gold Multi Gemstone Birthstone Mother's Ring, 1950s Vtg Sz 7.5 A 10 karat white gold ring with changeable gemstones held by tiny screws. The style originated with Victorian acrostic jewelry but by the 1950s had become a mother's ring, one birthstone for each child. It's a US size 7 1/2. See measurements below. Metal: solid 10 karat white gold Weight: 4.2 grams Signed: 10K CORONATION (R) Ring size: about 7 1/2 to maybe 7 3/4 (see photos on sizer) Size of face: 3/16" wide x 5/16" high (18 mm x 8 mm) Height above finger: 1/4" (about 6 mm) Band width: 6 mm at shoulders tapers to 2.5 mm at back of band Stones: I suspect they're spinel: lime green, emerald green, pink, royal blue (or they may be real sapphire, tourmaline, emerald and peridot) Stone size: 4 prong-set stones, 3 mm diameter each Condition: very good vintage condition, no visible damage; might benefit from a deep cleaning First let me say, photography was near impossible. The poor thing is not at all grainy-looking in person, but only in these bad magnified photos. The gem colors look fairly accurate from this screen. (The images with strange dark streaks are the ring in direct sunlight.) I feel quite sure this is 1950s era, so it has held up well for some 70 years old. Coronation was a registered trademark of a larger jewelry company back then (was it the jewelry wing of Longines or something?), and they made various forms of gold keepsake jewelry meant to be personalized, things like Masonic cufflinks and especially gold class rings with birthstones. There was a boom in 'family memento' jewelry in the 50s, though, and I think this is an instance of that trend, presumably a mother's ring, with birthstones for four children (peridot for August, emerald for May, pink tourmaline for October, and blue sapphire for September). I can guarantee this is solid 10 kt white gold, but I'm honestly not positive on the stones, mainly because much of the personalized 'interchangeable stones' style of jewelry back then used synthetic spinel gems (because they would be homogeneous, the same hardness and luster, and available in any color needed). I can say they're definitely not glass (nor did anyone set glass in karat gold, then or now), and they are convincing. But completely natural royal blue sapphire and eye-clean natural emerald were always very expensive, tens of times the cost of peridot or tourmaline, so I would just assume this is actually spinel, or at least synthetic sapphire/emerald, just to be safe. I guess it counts as estate jewelry by now as I don't recall where I got it, and it wasn't mine, though I've had it for decades. (It may have been a flea market find in the 80s, when so much nice 50s jewelry was available.) It's pretty, has a decent weight to it, and the tiny screws that hold the stones in are interesting. (They look like watch screws. Presumably you could switch their order at home, or take it to a jeweler to add more, as there are slots for more stones.) Hopefully it's visible in the photos that the face is pierced, a repeating X design, with diamond shapes to accommodate the screw-in stud-like stones. Finally, I think it bears mentioning that mother's rings, and certainly sentimental jewelry overall, did not in fact originate in 1959, as Google will now tell you. (The concept was around at least 10 years before that, I remember it. In the early 50s ads in the back of magazines urged giving 'your wife' jewelry with birthstones representing the entire family, the husband, too, and in at least one case, even both sets of parents -- like genealogical jewelry, it was odd.) In any case, sentimental and symbolic birthstone jewelry had been around for a century by then, particularly seen in the Victorian acrostic rings, where the first letter of the name of the stone spelled a word. (The mid-19th century "regard" jewelry is the most well-known, with the word spelled out in ruby, emerald, garnet, amethyst, ruby, and diamond. "Dearest" was also common, as well as names and other personally symbolic uses of stones.) The mother's ring idea seems to have become a trend after WWII and this ring was almost surely made as such, representing the birthstones of four children, or possibly grandchildren. However, it could also spell "Pets" (peridot, emerald, tourmaline, sapphire). It's surely not what the original owner intended, but we like "pets" better, especially in 2024. (My granddaughter wanted to wear this as "the ring for proud childless cat and dog ladies" -- but it's too big on her, slips off. Still, it may fit someone who is...pro-PETS!) 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Price: 166 USD

Location: Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

End Time: 2025-01-10T18:43:37.000Z

Shipping Cost: N/A USD