DATE: Georgian, c.1800

Stunning Georgian round cluster ring dating from the turn of the 19th century, circa 1800. It's set with a centra old mine cut stone, approx. 0.47 carats in weight, which is exciting enough, but I'm even more excited by the stones that make up the halo around it... they're an even earlier cut that the old mine centre: Peruzzi cuts. The diamonds total 0.74 carats in weight (calculated) and are set in silver over foil to best display and accentuate their colour, and the band is crafted in 15 karat yellow gold.

The peruzzi cut was perfected in the mid 17th century when most diamonds were fashioned as rose cuts. It's one of the first in the family of brilliant cuts, an ancestor of today's ubiquitous round brilliant. The peruzzi evolved from the natural uncut diamond's most basic form: two square pyramids placed together base-to-base to form an octahedron. The table cut simply has the two pyramid points cut off to form a table at one end and culet at the other, then the old single cut adds a few more facets by truncating the corners of the square bringing the facet total to 18. Adding to this a few more facets around the girdle gives a mazarin cut, and adding a few more creates the peruzzi - at last starting to look like an old Euro or old mine.

STONES 

Central 0.47ct Old Mine Cut Diamond - G/H colour, SI2 clarity
9 0.03ct Peruzzi Cut Diamonds

MEASUREMENTS 

Size: 7.5

Rise off finger: 4.3mm 

Head: 10mm 

WEIGHT 

6.4g

MARKS 

No marks present, tests as 15 karat gold and silver

CONDITION 

Very good