A 9ct gold mounted opal doublet pendant, a sterling silver…
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A 9ct gold mounted opal doublet pendant, a sterling silver mounted solid opal pendant, a 9ct gold Russian wedding ring, a 9ct rose gold and white paste ring stamped 'W. Kerr', a 9ct gold and opal doublet ring, and a silver and opal ring, 20th century, (6 items)
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- Paste / Rhinestone / Diamante - Paste (or rhinestone or diamante) is the name given to a coloured glass composition used for imitation gemstones, or to imitation gemstones made of glass.
Although the technique of glassmaking had been known for thousands of years, but it wasn't until a lead glass with similar optical properties to diamonds were invented by a German jeweller working in Paris (either "Stras" or 'Strasser") in the early 18th century that "paste" gemstones became popular.
There was no social stigma attached to wearing imitation stones, and they were worn in situations where highway robbery was a possibility. The 18th century settings were of very high quality, equivilent to real gemstone jewellery.
In the nineteeth century the quality of paste jewellery declined and it has remained the poor cousin to genuine gemstones ever since. - Sterling Silver - Sterling silver is a mixture of 92.5% pure silver and 7.5% of another metal, usually copper. Fine silver is 99.9% pure silver, and is relatively soft and the addition of the very small amount of copper gives the metal enough strength and hardness to be worked into jewellery, decorative and household objects.
- Doublet and Triplet - A doublet and a triplet are both composite imitation stones, consisting of two or three joined layers. A triplet is made with the crown and base of genuine material, but with a centre layer, usually of glass, the object being to make the stone appear larger than it really is. A doublet consists of only two layers.
Opal doublets are quite common and consist of a thin layer of opal cemented to an opal matrix or black glass.
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