Beatrix, 1875

The whole point of this Art Nouveau navette ring is restraint — opals, worn thin at the back where a hand has turned it for a century, and nothing more than chased naturalistic goldwork. The work is so even you would swear a machine did it, though none then could. The last owner was a house in Porto; with a note in the box naming the woman who first wore it. Pieces like this do not come apart; they were built to be handed on.