AN EXQUISITE ANTIQUE DEMANTOID GARNET AND DIAMOND RING Set with an oval-cut demantoid garnet, within an old mine-cut diamond frame, to the single, rose and old mine-cut diamond stylized fleur-de-lys shoulders and gold openwork gallery, mounted in platinum and gold, circa 1890 Demantoid is the rarest and most valuable garnet gem, its color ranging from green to greenish yellow. Demant, the Dutch word for diamond, was the name given to the stone because of its high luster and dispersion which is the stone's ability to separate light into its component colors (known in layman's terms as brilliance). In fact, demantoid's dispersion is greater than that of diamonds and, for that reason, Benjamin Zucker in Gems and Jewels contends that "...it is considered a most precious gem." When demantoids were discovered in the Ural Mountains in Russia in 1851, they were initially thought to be emeralds but subsequently found to be andradite garnets of singular transparency, colored by chromic oxide. By the last two decades of the century and beginning of the next they became popular as accents on imaginative animal and insect jewelry as well as focal points in brooches and rings. George Frederick Kunz, Tiffany's noted gemologist in the late nineteenth century, was so fascinated by the stone that he purchased a large quantity for the firm to use in their jewelry. Although still mostly mined in the Ural Mountains with limited production in Italy and Korea, the availability of demantoids has never reached the levels it did in the nineteenth century. Jeffrey Post, curator of gems and minerals at the Smithsonian Institution, states in the book, The National Gem Collection , "Today, because of limited supplies, demantoid maintains its status as a rare and expensive gem and is most commonly seen in antique jewelry." Demantoids are usually found in sizes of less than a carat, larger stones are exceedingly rare. At approximately 7.00 carats, the demantoid in this ring is not only unusually large but is also of exceptional color. It is set into a beautiful mounting, dating to c. 1895-1900. A stone of this size and importance, coming onto the marketplace only rarely, is a pure delight for the gem connoisseur.
AN EXQUISITE ANTIQUE DEMANTOID GARNET AND DIAMOND RING Set with an oval-cut demantoid garnet, within an old mine-cut diamond frame, to the single, rose and old mine-cut diamond stylized fleur-de-lys shoulders and gold openwork gallery, mounted in platinum and gold, circa 1890 Demantoid is the rarest and most valuable garnet gem, its color ranging from green to greenish yellow. Demant, the Dutch word for diamond, was the name given to the stone because of its high luster and dispersion which is the stone's ability to separate light into its component colors (known in layman's terms as brilliance). In fact, demantoid's dispersion is greater than that of diamonds and, for that reason, Benjamin Zucker in Gems and Jewels contends that "...it is considered a most precious gem." When demantoids were discovered in the Ural Mountains in Russia in 1851, they were initially thought to be emeralds but subsequently found to be andradite garnets of singular transparency, colored by chromic oxide. By the last two decades of the century and beginning of the next they became popular as accents on imaginative animal and insect jewelry as well as focal points in brooches and rings. George Frederick Kunz, Tiffany's noted gemologist in the late nineteenth century, was so fascinated by the stone that he purchased a large quantity for the firm to use in their jewelry. Although still mostly mined in the Ural Mountains with limited production in Italy and Korea, the availability of demantoids has never reached the levels it did in the nineteenth century. Jeffrey Post, curator of gems and minerals at the Smithsonian Institution, states in the book, The National Gem Collection , "Today, because of limited supplies, demantoid maintains its status as a rare and expensive gem and is most commonly seen in antique jewelry." Demantoids are usually found in sizes of less than a carat, larger stones are exceedingly rare. At approximately 7.00 carats, the demantoid in this ring is not only unusually large but is also of exceptional color. It is set into a beautiful mounting, dating to c. 1895-1900. A stone of this size and importance, coming onto the marketplace only rarely, is a pure delight for the gem connoisseur.
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.jpg "Quelle: Christie's")
.jpg "Quelle: Christie's")
