First half of 19th century three stone "French ring"

A rare example showcases a special “French ring” crafted from the beginning of the 19 century. Though the design and color is not the same as classic ones, the craftsmanship of ring is similar.

This ring is set with 3 hand-cut stones (chrysoberyl and pastes) on the closed-back ring head, decorated with granulation and handmade gold balls. This piece is in good condition with signs of wear and patina to its gold. There is no problem with modern daily wear; however please do not wear this ring for showering, exercising, farming, fishing, and other potentially damaging activities. 

French regional jewelry has always been a fascinating topic for antique jewelry lovers and experts. In ancient times, transport across France was slow and costly. There was very little communication between the different areas. Therefore each region, town, and village had its language, dialect, costume, and of course, jewelry. However, with the creation of the railway network around 1840, an inevitable standardization imposed itself. Thus, the wearing of regional costumes and the modeling of regional jewelry had almost stopped by 1920. Nowadays, finding a piece of French regional pieces that survived is challenging.

The "French rings" (Bagues à la française) were popular as wedding rings in the northwest of France (Normandy, Brittany, Vendée, Poitou) during the first half of the 19th century. Due to the difficulty in obtaining precious metals, these gold rings are usually thin, and the shanks are typically a slim gold wire. Because of the fragility of the valuable gold, it's not suitable to wear for daily working, so they were only worn on important occasions. The delicate wedding ring was one of the most important pieces of jewelry in a woman's life (many only had one piece of jewelry in their lifetime). The French Ring is commonly seen in gold, sterling silver gilt and sterling silver, set with either paste stones or precious stones. 

As the assessment of an item's condition is highly subjective, please click and enlarge our photos to examine more detailed condition highlights for your judgment.

If you are interested in this type of ring, please use our tag BAGUE à LA FRANçAISE to explore more in our curation.

Due to the construction of ring, if you would love to rezise it, please contact us for further discussion.