Enchantment - Vintage 9K Gold Natural Australian Opal & Genuine Pearl Lavalier Pendant (VP145)

Enchantment - Vintage 9K Gold Natural Australian Opal & Genuine Pearl Lavalier Pendant.  This exquisite pendant is crafted from 9K gold, hallmarked 375, a British hallmark for 9K gold, and a London assay.  Featuring 2 oval cut cabochon Australian opals, 12 genuine seed pearls, Edwardian/Victorian styling, quality craftsmanship, and full British hallmarks. The chain has a gold wash over sterling silver, hallmarked 925 for sterling.  The pretty pendant is in the Edwardian style, featuring a beautiful sculpted frame of gold, which is adorned by lustrous seed pearls, and dangling Australian opals. The Opals display flashes of blue, lavender, green, and orange, in different light intensities, whilst the pearls are white, displaying silvery/champagne overtones. This Vintage piece would make a wonderful addition to any fine jewelry collection.

Note: Contemporary appraisals do not reflect the antique value of the piece. 

History: Many cultures have credited opal with supernatural origins and powers. Arabic legends say it falls from the heavens in flashes of lightning. The ancient Greeks believed opals gave their owners the gift of prophecy and guarded them from disease. Europeans have long considered the gem a symbol of hope, purity, and truth.

Pearls were presented as gifts to Chinese royalty as early as 2300 BC, while in ancient Rome, pearl jewellery was considered the ultimate status symbol. So precious were the spherical gems that in the 1st century BC, Julius Caesar passed a law limiting the wearing of pearls only to the ruling classes.

Gold was generally used for a couple thousand years solely to create things such as jewelry and idols for worship. This was until around 1500 BC when the ancient empire of Egypt, which benefited greatly from its gold-bearing region, Nubia, made gold the first official medium of exchange for international trade.

Measurements: Pendant 35.00 mm x 21.50 mm    Chain 18"

Stone size: Opal .30 carats    Pearls 1.50 mm - 2.00 mm 

Weight: 3.40 carats

Condition: Excellent 

Origin: England, London 

Date: Circa 1940