I love unusual gemstones and minerals - a legacy of my geologist father - and these vivid green malachite stalactite studs are special. Malachite stalactites grow from the ceiling in mine voids or small cave-like spaces in copper ore deposits and while small, are spectacular. Distinct growth bands in differing shades of green, rather like tree rings, are visible in cross section - you can see them in these studs. They are found in only a few places in the world, with these being from Guandong, China, from a mine that produces striking chatoyant or "Cat's Eye" ones. You can see the beautiful cat's eye shimmer as the studs move in the light.
This is the second of only two pairs of these malachite stalactite slices, so I decided to set this pair with lime green tsavorite garnets, in a celebration of tone-on-tone green. Granulation in warm high karat gold highlights the cat's eye shimmer. While a real collector's earring, these little bursts of color flatter everyone and go with everything.
Two-of-two-of-a-kind.