Featured Garnet, Opal, 10k gold ring + 8k Victorian ring. Time Periods?

Hey everyone. Glad I could find a site with a dedicated jewelry thread. I LOVE antique jewelry, more specifically rings. I will be posting a couple threads with some rings I have found over the past couple months in hopes of dating them! The first ring I think is from the 1930s. Appears to be a 10k cast set ring with garnets and an opal. Has a makers mark of A but I cannot find anything on the marking! Thoughts?

Secondly is this Victorian ring. On an electronic tester it is 8k solid gold. Appears to have a rose de France amethyst on it. Looks handmade? I think it is from the 1880s or so. Thoughts? Thanks everyone!

 

I agree with your thoughts on the amethyst. 1880s or so.

I think I would put a little earlier date on the garnet and opal.
Hopefully someone else will have an opinion.

I like both of them.

 

A couple good photos of the inside of the amethyst ring and the outside shank might help.With the provided photos there is no way to date the rings.

 

Hello spartcom5, welcome to the forum. Lovely jewellery!

Agree.
The focus of your pictures is very good, but maybe if you photograph the rings on a white piece of paper? Inside and outside, the marks and the back of the amethyst, please.
Have you tested the stones? The garnets look like rubies to me, opal and ruby is a classic combination.
The amethyst, if real, is a Rose de France, as you thought. It is that pale lavender colour that makes it Rose de France. It is also called Fleur de France or lavender quartz/amethyst.

 

both nice rings......if you wear the amethyst.....close the claws or they'll catch on the slightest fabric..

 

Okay so referring to the garnets. One antique jeweler told me rubies then two others told me garnet and finally a heat gun said garnets as well. But they don't really share the color of garnets.... Odd here are more pictures of the amethyst. No marks on the inside of the shank. I have so many more great rings to post! Mainly need help in dating most of them. Also, anyone identify the makers mark on the opal ring?

 

Garnets come in all colors,it is why testing is recommended.The amethyst ring is hand assembled and hand engraved,the stone setting is die stamped.

Unless someone can identify the "A" in a hexagon mark,no one can date it.The same goes for the amethyst,the construction methods can put it at an unknown time period.

 

Thanks for the extra pictures, I took the liberty of cropping some of your pictures to get more detail .



Although the amethyst ring looks like it could date from the Aesthetic Period, the cut of the stone looks post 1890. Those simple engraved designs are also seen slightly later, 1900-1910, especially in the US. So I'd say 1900-1910 for the amethyst ring.

The opal and garnet ring looks Etruscan/Mycenean Revival. Etruscan Revival often has granulated decoration, which your ring doesn't have, it is closer to the lesser known Mycenean Revival, which started in the 1870s.
The gold and the cut of the garnets look 19th century as well. As Holly said, garnets come in all colours.
If the ring is European, the A in a hexagon could be the mark for Vienna, Austria. Vienna had an A in different cartouches in the 19th century until the 1870s. Maybe someone else can verify the shape. But I would expect a Vienna mark to have additional marks.

 

Very interesting info on the opal ring! Thanks so much. It truly is an mystery piece I have had different people tell me all sorts of dates on it. One guy told me the color gold looked like it was from the 30s or 40s, others have told me early 1900s. One antique jeweler said since it isn't handmade it was casted which would put it later as in the 40s. When were casted rings first made exactly? I feel like it was before the 40s....

 

Jewellery casting is about as old as metal casting in general, which started in the bronze age.
But the jeweller probably meant modern casting, which started in Victorian times, so you were right.
Before modern casting, gold jewellery was usually hammered from a gold ingot. If you see, for instance, Georgian style cast jewellery, it is a later copy.

 

Everyone has opinions ,stones have been recycled into new rings for ages...
The casting quality looks to be after 1940,the opal is it European or Australian? Most late 1800's to mid 20th century jewelry was die struck and casting vastly improved after WW2 due to war efforts.

If you are interested and have time for short videos... click on the publisher's name Hugo Kohl for the whole list.

 

those are great videos, thanks for posting about them Holly

 

Welcome!