Featured Fire opal sterling silver ring - mexican fire opal?

This piece was my mother's, unfortunately i didn't get to ask her where she got it. She has several other pieces(sterling rings with agate cabochons) that I know were made by my father's father(my grandfather) back in the 40's 50's, but I'm not sure about this one. I don't know if he would have been able to get a big piece of fire opal like this up in northern California.

It's only marked "sterling". I'm assuming if the ring itself was mexican, it would be marked with a mexican mark, not just "sterling". It does look like mexican fire opal to me though. The cabochon is 1 inch (2.5cm) long .3 inches(.8cm) wide.

Opinions - this is fire opal yes? It has fire play in it at certain angles but not at others, mostly blue but a hint of green now and then.

Thank you for looking!

Aaron

 

nice.....

 

Dragon's breath art glass and sterling. It might be Mexican but probably isn't. I'd guess it's 1930s to late 1940s ... and not let it out of the house. Joolies tend to love dragon's breath. It's meant to resemble a jelly opal but is a thing on its own. The good pieces command prices on a part with semi-precious stones.

 

Hard to tell if it is real opal,it may be dragon’s breath opal(glass). Look like the ring is plated copper.

 

Thank you - that makes sense!

 

How well are the photos capturing the colors as you see them in person? As shown, stone looks more like this kind of thing:

https://www.amazon.com/Silver-Mexican-Dragons-Breath-Necklace/dp/B01CWNCMGW

 

Thanks Holly - I'm quite sure it's silver - up close shows no signs of plating and it is marked Sterling inside the band. I think what might look like copper in a couple of the photos is just shadows and tarnish.

 

Yes it does more closely resemble the dragon's breath glass then fire opal - now that I've seen both. It is on the orange side of red though - most of the dragon's breath pics I'm seeing are more red - although some are close to mine.

 

That orangey-red is pretty close to standard. Some pre-War pieces were yellow with the blue flash, and a few were even green. The green is much harder to find.

 

Wow, this thread has helped me identify a ring I have that was probably my grandmother's. Thank you!

I knew the style of my ring is Art Deco, so figured it's from the '20s or early '30s? I didn't know that the stone is dragon's breath.

It has a maker's mark, Nemco, but no mark for the material. Is it likely silver plated or just silver-toned metal?

 

Silver tone, probably. Nice.

 

Thanks, Bear.

 

This looks like a similar setting.
https://www.rubylane.com/item/231976-3372/Vintage-Nemco-Dragonx27s-Breath-Art-Glass

 

Thanks, INH. It does look like the same or a very similar setting. Same company, too.

 

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