Moss Agate

For the duration of my marriage I wore a plain gold wedding ring on my left hand and a gold ring with a single flush-mounted one-carat diamond on my right. After my wife’s death, circumstances obliged me to sell my jewels (such as they were), and for eight years or so I went ringless.

Early last year it occurred to me I’d like to start wearing rings again. Rather than shepherd scant funds toward the purchase of an unimpressive gold ring or two, I opted instead to buy several inexpensive silver ones. In lieu of diamonds or sapphires, I sought out semi-precious stones: the likes of topaz and tourmaline; quartz & chalcedony.

Two of my purchases are pictured above. The stone on the left is a so-called ‘moss agate’. Agate, I gather, more properly denotes chalcedony with a banded patternation. I’m uncertain as to the proper designation of the stone on the right - with its brown colours it doesn’t exactly look mossy. In any case I very much like its quasi-pictorial appearance - almost resembling a landscape.