A couple of years ago I purchased a large parcel of rhodochrosite which is rare to find in faceted form because of how difficult it is to facet it and how rare it is to find in facet grade quality. The parcel had a few stones that were calibrated sizes, sadly I sold at least two off before I realized I should measure all the stones in the parcel to see what was there that I could set. I came across two 8mm round stones and this is one of them. I took photos of the stone before I set it so you could better see the stone. I have photos of the other 8mm round if you want me to custom make a different necklace for you.

This rhodochrosite comes from the Kalahari manganese fields near Hotazel, South Africa and it was faceted in Sri Lanka. It measures 8mm round and weighs 2.29 carats. It has heavy eye visible inclusions but is fully transparent. This stone has some tiny surface flaws but they were hard to detect with the naked eye before setting and now I can't find them at all.

The drop is an all natural Tahitian keshi pearl that measures a whopping half inch long (big for a Tahitian keshi!). It has nice luster and orient and is a soft gray that does not overpower the stone and goes well with the silver. Keshi pearls are NOT cultured, there is no seed inside that was put there by man to make the oyster grow a pearl, they occur naturally as a byproduct of the culturing process and are SOLID NACRE! Industry standard for cultured Tahitian pearls is 0.8mm thickness of nacre, industry standard of thickness of nacre on cultured Akoya pearls is 0.25mm, there are no industry standards for minimum thickness of nacre on South Sea cultured pearls, and there are no industry standards for minimum thickness of nacre on cultured freshwater pearls. This is why keshi pearls are so valued, because thy are solid pearl and not just a coating!

The chain is a pretty rope chain that measures 18 inches long. The setting is a rope edge bezel setting and it slides very nicely on the chain. All components are solid sterling silver.

I do have one more 8mm stone, not sure if I'd make this same exact necklace again, and I can customize this necklace too. I can change the drop, for example I can use the same three white freshwater pearls I use with the 8mm moldavite necklace currently in my shop, or I can use three skinny Tahitian keshi pearls in the same style as that necklace. I can put the slide pendant on a 16 inch cable neck wire. I can string the pendant with 1.5mm natural white Japanese salt water keshi seed pearls in any length, or string this pendant with a 16 inch strand of tiny rice shaped grayish white South Sea pearls, or with 2mm freshwater gray seed pearls. The options are endless, so let me know.

Domestic shipping is free.