Metal: 22K Gold

Stone: 1.28ct Rhodochrosite from the Sweet Home Mine, CO

Size: 6

Measurements: Approx. 10mm x 5mm

What You Should Know: Custom created by us. . Rhodochrosite is a soft stone with a Mohs hardness of 3.5-4. We have bezel set this stone securely to protect it on all sides, but please wear it responsibly.

**This ring cannot be resized.

Long sought-after by mineral collectors, rhodochrosite has not been known as a jewelry-worthy gem for very long. That is because most rhodochrosite is opaque with distinctive wavy streaks of white; the transparent gem-quality version is relatively rare. The American Trade Gem Association honored faceted rhodochrosite for the first time in 1996. We are obsessed with these clean, faceted mamas, which gleam an almost unreal earthly glow.

While rhodochrosite can be found worldwide, the most famous variety comes from the Sweet Home mine in Alma, Colorado. The area gained fame, briefly, as a source of gold in 1861 and later as a prolific silver mine. Rhodochrosite was discovered a couple of years later and mined in earnest around 1895. When George F. Kunz of Tiffany & Company focused on gem-quality rhodochrosite from Sweet Home, he is said to have deemed it,“the first locality to yield crystals of such magnitude and transparency.”

Several of the most incredible mineral specimens ever found in North America are rhodochrosite crystals. One, called “The Alma Queen”, now lives at the Houston Museum of Natural Sciences, and her counterpart, “The Alma King”, resides in a Denver museum. These hunks of beauty are exceedingly rare and notoriously difficult to mine. Sweet Home is high up in the steep Mosquito mountains, accessible only two or three months of the year due to weather. Also, the vast majority of the mine’s rhodochrosite pockets are either empty or lacking the truly high-quality version of this elusive gem. On top of that, vertical tunnels are needed to mine rhodochrosite, which are physically difficult and costly to create. Have we convinced you yet that she’s a special something?

Rhodochrosite symbolizes love and energy, opens the heart, and amplifies optimism (think: rose-colored glasses). It has been used to remove the pain from insect bites and heal scarring. We set this rare, delicate sweetheart of a gem in heavenly 22K gold. The process required caution but we made her ready for wear with a sturdy setting designed to protect this precious rarity, with a lip lifted ever so slightly above this ethereal specimen of perfection. She’s finished with the most fantastic cuff that embodies softness with echoes of geometric lines and endless edges.