Victorian Opal & Diamond Ring

A mesmerising, rare Victorian opal and diamond ring, circa 1860, featuring a breathtaking cabochon opal with a wonderful play-of-colour and dominant fiery red tones. This unique display of flashing rainbow colours is best viewed in the video.
 
This luminous gemstone positively glows with light, radiating a rainbow of colour from within. A crown of delicate, glittering diamonds sits in silver, highlighting its vivid beauty. The opal is foil-backed to enhance its light and colour, while an elegant scroll gallery setting adds a breath of Victorian elegance, all set upon an 18ct gold band.
 
Opals are revered for their magical display of colour. Known as the birthstone for October, they have historically been associated with royalty and good luck. Described as having "a twinkling and flashing gleam which seemed to be emitted by the gem itself, as if it sympathised with the wearer's emotions" (Sir Walter Scott’s 1829 Gothic novel Anne of Geierstein).
 
 
 
“...The rose hovered and quivered, burned, fused to flame, to a transient red, while the yellow urged out in great waves, thrown from the ever-increasing fountain, great waves of yellow flinging into the sky, scattering its spray over the darkness, which became bluer and bluer, paler, till soon it would itself be a radiance, which had been darkness. The sun was coming.”

~ D.H. Lawrence, The Rainbow