Need Help with Antique Opal Ring

[whimsiesandwishes]

Hi..any help with this antique ring is truly appreciated. I think it is 14 or 18k but the opal is strange, unlike any I’ve had. Is this a black opal?
Thanks again.
Happy New Year!
Lorri

[mforjan]

Hi, pretty ring, no marks to tell you what the metal is? I don't know about the stone, you should take it to a jeweler to have the metal tested, if no one here can help with the stone the jeweler may be able to.

The style seems very modern and artisan made, maybe it came from a craft fair? Are you sure it's 100 years old or older? If not, it would not be antique.

[hollyblue83]

Hard to tell from the photos,the stone could be Australian Yowah nut opal or Mexican matrix opal.

[thistlespell]

Hmm.. looks like Boulder opal. I agree that it looks artisan, but it could be vintage artisan possibly? Dunno about antique, however. Strange that there aren’t any metal markings. It looks like rose gold from the photos, but without markings it’s hard to say. I don’t think those gold testing kits with the test solution are insanely pricey. Good luck! Gorgeous ring, btw. 😄 

[whimsiesandwishes]

Thank you everyone for your thoughts. At least I have somewhere to start. It’s definitely antique and I’ll test it tomorrow.
Happy New Year!

[emerald_door]

From the picture, it looks like boulder opal.  The parts of the stone that don't look like opal are called potch. 

[whimsiesandwishes]

Thank you so much. Is it inferior to a “typical” opal?

[mforjan]

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@whimsiesandwishes wrote:
Thank you everyone for your thoughts. At least I have somewhere to start. It’s definitely antique and I’ll test it tomorrow.
Happy New Year!

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Hi, can you please tell me how you know it is antique? It doesn't look anything like any style I have seen from 1920 or earlier and I would love to learn more about it. Whoever designed it must have been very much before their time

[emerald_door]

Boulder opal is found in Queensland, Australia, and is not inferior to white opal.   A high quality boulder opal can be quite valuable. However, the use of a piece of opal showing so much potch is unusual and not necessarily desirable.  Therefore, I would consider this to be a less valuable opal.  By the way, in white opals, a lot of pink is more valuable than green.  In black and boulder opals, red is a more expensive color.  

[whimsiesandwishes]

Thanks for your interest! I’m an antique dealer with a concentration in vintage/antique jewelry. However, I’m not familiar with this type of opal. I ‘know” it’s antique because I’ve many arts and crafts pieces go through my shop and this ring is certainly consistent with the style. I tested it once back at the store and as I thought, it is 14k.

Happy New Year!

Lorri

[mforjan]

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@whimsiesandwishes wrote:

I ‘know” it’s antique because I’ve many arts and crafts pieces go through my shop and this ring is certainly consistent with the style. I tested it once back at the store and as I thought, it is 14k.

Happy New Year!

Lorri

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Interesting, thanks for the reply, it gives me something to research 

[prettywoman-2012]

It is not easy to tell from these photos, but could be Boulder Opal, as stated by others. FYI: Boulder Opal is also mined in Arizona, not just Australia (and I can imagine, in some other countries, also). While not inferior to other opals, other opals lend themselves to a finer, more "opalescent" light color gemstone and hence, also more popular. When I see rough gemstones, I often associate that with the habit of those who found the stone themselves, and similar to how gold nuggets mined by someone himself are sometimes made into jewelry (pendant or rings), the same is true for these roughs. That said, it would be foolish of me to speculate about the history of this piece. 

The missing marks on the ring could mean a lot of different things, from being a genuine antique solid gold setting to hand-made by a jeweler for himself or friends to being cheap gold-plated metal - and anything in-between. Just from these pictures, I do not think it is a cheap metal of gold color, it rather looks like either of the other two possibilities. I hope this helps.A jewelry testing kit can help you test for solid gold. Those are available on eBay. Good luck

PW