AN ART NOUVEAU AQUAMARINE AND GOLD HEART PENDANT, CIRCA 1910
Lot 202 in the upcoming Dupuis auction November 24, 2013. This beautiful hand made pendant, dated 1913, seems to be a blend between Art Nouveau and Arts and Crafts. The centre features a panel with a clear cover on the front, and an engraved back with an inscription commemorating a 25th wedding anniversary. The transparent cover allows for the insertion of a photo or other item, perhaps a swatch of colour to pick up a theme in your wardrobe.
I was curious, and tested the clear cover, and it turns out to be rock crystal quartz. As a gemmologist, I was impressed that the cutter oriented it perfectly to be along an optic axis, so it is in a singly refractive direction, and the photo below would not look fuzzy due to doubling. In a polariscope, it perfectly shows interference colours between crossed polarizing filters, and a bullseye optic figure.
Rock crystal quartz in polariscope
Rock crystal quartz in polariscope
For more information about this pendant, go to: http://bit.ly/17BltGs