Citrine quartz
One stone per earring, inside the hollow of the ribbon
- Cut
- Oval faceted
- Note
- Described by the maker as “hardstone”; the carat weight is not declared
Collection Creazioni in Argento·Orecchini
Sterling silver almond-shaped drop earrings with faceted oval citrine quartz
Under the citrine the silver is not polished but satin-finished: that is what keeps the yellow alight.
€270,00
O5803qc
Drawn and built by hand at the bench, in Tosi.
The satin-finished silver sphere sits on the lobe and does not shine: it is the matt point everything else starts from. Below, a wide silver ribbon folds into an almond shape and is hollowed at the center, and the hollow that results is left satin while the rim has been brought back to polish; a second ribbon, thin and mirror-bright, crosses over it and follows its outline without touching it. In the hollow, on four claws, sits an oval faceted citrine quartz. The yellow is warm and uneven: at the center of the stone it flares almost to orange, towards the edge it turns pale honey, and against the satin silver behind it the color bounces a second time instead of being lost. At the bottom the wide ribbon ends in a crescent standing clear of the body, flanked by the thin wire that tapers away to a point.
Forty-five millimeters from the lobe to the tip, one centimeter seven wide. The silver is at nine hundred and twenty-five thousandths and weighs seven grams seventy: the maker states that figure once only, without saying whether it is for one earring or for the pair, and we do not decide it in their place. The shape does not come from the saw but from the casting: the model is built in wax, the wax is lost in the mold, and a hollow cut with that undercut cannot be obtained any other way. Citrine is quartz, like the amethyst set in the companion earring, and in both cases the color comes from iron: all that changes is how that iron sits locked in the lattice. Natural citrine is rare and usually pale, and most of what is on the market comes from heated amethyst, which past a certain temperature turns yellow and does not go back — an old and declared treatment, which takes nothing away from the stone. The maker does not declare the carat weight, and we do not add it.
The material
Weights and carats as the workshop declares them.
7,70
gramsSilver 925‰
- Metals
- Silver 925‰
- Finish
- Satin-finished in the hollow and on the sphere, polished on the ribbons
- Dimensions
- Length with hook 45 mm · width 1.7 cm
- Technique
- Lost-wax cast and finished by hand: the hollow left satin and the ribbons brought back to polish one by one, the stone set in four claws, the post and butterfly fitted at the back.
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 consumes both the wax and the mold, and the model you started from no longer exists. It is the way to obtain what the saw and the file could 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 begun again from the wax.
- Citrine quartz
- Citrine is quartz, the same mineral species as rock crystal and amethyst: all that changes is how much iron it holds and how that iron sits in the lattice. Naturally occurring yellow is rare, and most of the citrine on the market is born amethyst and turns yellow in the kiln — a stable treatment, declared in the gem trade, that cannot be told by eye. At the seventh degree of hardness it stands up to daily wear better than almost any other colored stone; but the same firing that gives it its color can also take it away, and strong continuous light or the heat of a nearby flame will drain it. The yellow that goes does not come back.
- Post and butterfly fitting
- The post passes through the lobe and behind it a butterfly holds it, two metal wings that grip the shaft by themselves. It is the simplest fitting there is, and precisely for that reason it has to be done well: the post must be soldered perpendicular to the body of the earring, because if it starts even slightly crooked the piece hangs askew on the lobe and there is no way to straighten it by wearing it. The butterfly, on the other hand, is the part that gets lost: it holds by friction, and friction falls off over the years until one day it no longer holds at all. You check it by pinching it lightly between two fingers, and when it has stopped offering resistance you replace it — it costs little, and a great deal less than the earring.
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 piece leaves the bench made to order: sizes and details are agreed before the work begins.
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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