Freshwater pearl
One per corolla, at the bottom of two of the three callas
- Cut
- Not cut
- Note
- Two round white pearls, diameter approx. 6.20 mm; the company states they are natural
Collection Creazioni in Argento·Anello
Triple band sterling silver ring with two freshwater pearls
Three corollas and two pearls of six millimeters and twenty: the empty calla is the one that takes the symmetry out of the group.
€200,00
AL11A2
Drawn and built by hand at the bench, in Tosi.
Three callas come out of the band and open in three different directions. Each is a cone of silver sheet rolled on itself, with the tip drawn forward like the spathe of the real flower, and inside, the surface is lined with parallel veins that start at the bottom and widen towards the edge. Two of the three corollas hold a white pearl, resting where the cone opens; the third stays empty, and it is there to shift the weight of the group to one side instead of leaving it symmetrical. The silver has been darkened and then re-polished only on the edges and the ribs: the black has stayed at the bottom of the cones, and it is what lifts the white of the pearls off the metal. Behind, the group is hollow and rough from the casting; the band becomes a round, smooth circle again, mirror-polished.
Twelve grams of silver at nine hundred and twenty-five thousandths, all in the same piece: the group of callas sits to one side and the band passes underneath it, so the weight is not spread over the finger but all above the knuckles. The two pearls measure six millimeters and twenty across each, and the company states that they are natural and freshwater — born, that is, in a river or lake mollusc, not in the sea. They are the softest part of the whole piece: a pearl is calcium carbonate held together by an organic substance, it sits at about the third degree of hardness and it dissolves in acids, so it goes on after the perfume and comes off first. And the black at the bottom of the corollas is what lets you see the pearls: a cloth rubbed hard in there takes it away, and from there it does not come back.
The material
Weights and carats as the workshop declares them.
12.00
gramsSilver 925‰
- Metals
- Silver 925‰
- Finish
- Oxidized in the recesses of the corollas, polished on the edges and on the band
- Technique
- Made entirely by hand. The three corollas are lost-wax cast in a single block and finished one by one — the inner veining gone over again, the edges thinned and drawn in at the tip; then the group is oxidized and re-polished on the raised areas only, the two pearls settled into the bottom of the cones, and the round band soldered underneath and mirror-polished.
The stones
How it is made
The words of the trade, one by one, explained to those who do not know them.
- Lost-wax casting
- The model is built in wax, coated in refractory plaster and then heated until the wax runs out: what is left is a void of the exact shape, and into that void the molten silver is poured. To get the piece out the mold has to be broken, so every casting uses up both the wax and the mold, and the model you started from no longer exists. It is the way to get what the saw and the file would not — ribbons that overlap, undercuts, voids closed on every side — but if the metal does not reach the end of a thin branch the piece comes out incomplete, and it cannot be mended: it is melted down and you start again from the wax.
- Oxidizing
- The silver is darkened on purpose, and then re-polished only where the light has to come back. The black stays in the voids and the recesses, the bright on the raised areas: it is a design made by subtraction, and whoever does it decides where to stop the cloth.
- Pearl
- The pearl is the only gem produced by a living animal, and it is not a mineral like the others: it is aragonite — calcium carbonate — held together by conchiolin, an organic substance the mollusc lays down between one layer and the next. That organic part is its weak point. On the hardness scale a pearl sits at about three: it scratches with a fingernail, and the metal of another piece of jewelry marks it at the first contact. But the scratch is not the worst damage: being a carbonate it dissolves in acids, and sweat, perfume, hairspray and vinegar corrode the surface until the sheen goes out. It goes on last, after the perfume, and comes off first; it is cleaned with a barely damp cloth and put away dry, never shut in a bag where the air does not pass. And you watch the thread or the cord that holds it too: it is the part that ages first, and it should be replaced before it gives way, not after.
I don't look at what others are doing: I would rather create in my own style. That is what makes our jewelry recognizable.
Fabio Gori — Anna Gioielli, Tosi
Made for you
Every ring is made in the size of the person who will wear it: we work it out together before the piece is made.
The goldsmith's workshop is also the place where made-to-measure jewellery is created and family pieces are restored: if you have an idea, or something you want brought back to how it was, that is where it starts.
Made by
Anna Gioielli
A goldsmith's workshop in Tosi, on the slopes of the Pratomagno: Anna opened it in 1988, her sons Fabio and Francesco carry it on. Piercing, repoussé, chasing and burin engraving — the Florentine school, with the workshop in full view of the shop.
Della stessa famiglia
Due modi di cercare quello che somiglia a questo.
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Silver flower earrings with amethysts
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Silver pendant with cabochon amethyst drop and faceted oval peridot, chain included
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Fiore d'Inverno ring in silver with amethyst and yellow enamel, 14 mm corolla
€120,00
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Fiore d'Inverno ring in bronze with garnet, blackened corolla and hammered band
€120,00
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Marte faith ring in silver, 5.50 mm narrow band, pierced on a single row of empty spaces
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Fiore d'Inverno Ring in silver with citrine quartz, sinuous hammered wire shank
€150,00
