Edwardian California Garnet Specimen art deco these eyes use a concave

these eyes use a concave mirror surface of guanine crystals to direct and focus the light - something of an innovation in the world of molluscs

with a raised white gold band running down the centre

Dividers are base metal

poised to lunge forward

Edwardian California Garnet Specimen art deco these eyes use a concaveAn interesting little oddity that took me an age to figure out but I got there. It's a rough, uncut spessartine garnet crystal from the Little Three Mine in Ramona, California. This pendant dates from the very early days of mining in Ramona. The crystal weighs 16. 4 carats and it's mounted in a yellow gold cage likely a souvenir recovered by one of the pioneer miners. Spessartine garnet is an orange coloured gemstone named after the Spessart mountain