Victorian Diamond Cobblestone Mystery Ring

Buckle up for a long and strange breakdown of this ring which we have to believe will find a perfect match out there somewhere!

Let's start with the easy part: this ring packs an impressive ~1.5 carats of natural, old cut diamonds into its eccentric form. The shape spreads these across the finger and has excellent coverage.

Now for the mystery!

The head (the part with the shoulders and diamonds) is in keeping with a late Victorian piece and appears to be 9ct white gold. It has been reshanked to an 18ct yellow gold band at some point in its history.

Re-shanks are common, so what's confusing? Well, white gold wasn't even invented until 1912, and not widespread until the early 1920s.

However careful examination of the underside of the ring indicates that the head and shoulders were simply rhodium plated, and are yellow gold underneath. So we surmise that a late Victorian 9ct ring was rhodium plated, and then re-shanked on an 18ct shank. Why the mixed metal carats? Your guess is as good as ours.

Phew!

The diamonds are a real cobble of cinnamon through to uncoloured stones, all with peaky crowns and open culets. 

Material: 9 & 18ct gold, natural diamonds

Size:; UK P / US 7.5

Weight: 5.4g

Dimensions: head is 20.1x8.6