Saturday, January 10, 2009

Bracelet of 'Operculum' stones set in silver .

This is an interesting an somewhat unusual bracelet. The seven "stones" are not stones at all but are Operculum (latin for 'little lid').
They are in fact the 'lid' of certain gastropods and are more commonly known as Cats eye or Shiva's eye.
The ones pictured here are from the Turban Snail (Turbo petholatus). The underside is completely flat whilst the top is domed and with a dark green centre fading through cream to brown.
These operculum are set into silver to form this bracelet. These were first made popular in Victorian time.

1 comment:

  1. Snails as jewellery - weird or what?

    Lovely though ....

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