3.6 cts of Madagascar Sapphire set in this Aster flower ring band that is forged from Argentium sterling silver using an antique die replica. The ring is size 7 3/4. The ring cannot be sized, but contact me to have one custom made in your size. The Sapphire is glass filled and diffusion treated. Sapphire is the birthstone for September.

Sapphire, with its Mohs hardness of 9, second only to diamond, is one of the most valuable and wearable of all gemstones. Famed for its brilliance and rich blue color, sapphire actually occurs in a wide range of fancy colors, including pink, yellow and green. Sapphire includes gems of every color of corundum, except for red, which is classified as ruby. The name corundum comes from the ancient Sanskrit "kuruvindam", while the name "sapphire" comes from the Persian word "safir". Sapphires are seen as the guardians of love. When given as a gift they enhance love and tune your spirits to one another. Sapphires and corundum gemstones have been used to banish envy and jealousy as well as promote fidelity in marriage. The sapphire family includes a long list of gemstones; color change sapphire, blue star sapphire, black star sapphire, and of course, blue sapphire and fancy sapphire.

Argentium® Silver is made with a touch of germanium and presents a bright white color that is closer to fine silver than traditional sterling, yet is extremely slow to tarnish under most conditions. With 93.5% pure silver, Argentium meets the legal standard to be quality-marked as sterling silver. All Argentium is made from reclaimed silver and its sources are guaranteed by Argentium International Ltd. Jewelry-makers and their customers appreciate the value and convenience of a brighter-white sterling silver that resists tarnish, everyday scratches and dents, and keeps on shining.

This ring is part of my Tribute line. This new line is a Tribute to the die-striking manufacturing techniques used throughout history. Because jewelry making techniques have advanced, die-striking is no longer an economically feasible method of manufacturing. All of the companies that were die-striking have gone out of business and some of the dies have been lost to scrap steel. Kevin Potter, of Potter USA, has been collecting these dies in order to preserve history. He has been making reproductions and selling them to jewelry makers like myself, in order to fund his quest to save as many of the dies as possible. The dies are made from a hub. The hub was carved, by hand, by master carvers, and are beautiful works of art. The process of making jewelry from these dies, is not necessarily easier than fabricating from sheet, but the results can be simply stunning.

Continue reading for more history...

The industrial revolution had a huge impact on not only how jewelry was made, but also on who was able to access it. Because of how jewelry manufacturing techniques changed, jewelry ownership became a possibility for everyday people. Die-struck jewelry became the main method of production and was produced in mass, largely in Providence, Rhode Island. Before the advent of electricity, die struck jewelry was made with drop hammers or kick presses. Even though dies became the main method of jewelry production in the late 1800s and early 1900s, dies have been in use for jewelry making since ancient times. There is historical evidence showing Greek and Etruscan goldsmiths carved dies of bronze and hammered thin sheets of gold into them. Archaeologists discovered gold die formed jewelry at the site of Pompeii. Dies were being used in presses as early as the 16th century. Benvenuto Cellini (1500-1571), in his treatise on goldsmithing, wrote about how he used a screw press when creating medals for Pope Clement VII.