FINE-JEWELLERY workshops are, by and large, extraordinarily quiet places. You may catch the faintest hiss of gold being cast, the muffled rasp of delicate filing or the muted tap, tap, tap of a tiny hammer at work, but, otherwise, you could be in a library or even a church. There is one exception to this: when a jeweller is engaged in die-stamping a signet ring.
Witnessing a signet ring being die-stamped is like standing next to a cannon being fired. The process involves taking a bar of solid gold, compressing it so that it is even denser and then stamping out the ring in flat profile. It is this last stage that makes the serious noise, for it requires a steel die to be dropped down onto the gold with massive force.
Happily, the rest of the goldsmith’s work is more or less silent. The flat profile is heated and bent into the shape of a ring, soldered and plunged into water to cool it off. Forging the ring in this way further hardens it, making it stronger and giving it a superb finish.
Crucially, the dense, compressed gold is the ideal surface for engraving the sharp, highly defined image required for a signet ring. Ostensibly, this article is about one such signet ring, commissioned by me from royal jeweller Bentley & Skinner. In reality, it stretches into other areas, including the role rings play in the human psyche, snippets of jewellery history, traditional craftsmanship, mankind’s search for identity and how we are remembered.
Denne historien er fra June 01, 2022-utgaven av Country Life UK.
Start din 7-dagers gratis prøveperiode på Magzter GOLD for å få tilgang til tusenvis av utvalgte premiumhistorier og 9000+ magasiner og aviser.
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Denne historien er fra June 01, 2022-utgaven av Country Life UK.
Start din 7-dagers gratis prøveperiode på Magzter GOLD for å få tilgang til tusenvis av utvalgte premiumhistorier og 9000+ magasiner og aviser.
Allerede abonnent? Logg på
Kitchen garden cook - Apples
'Sweet and crisp, apples are the epitome of autumn flavour'
The original Mr Rochester
Three classic houses in North Yorkshire have come to the market; the owner of one inspired Charlotte Brontë to write Jane Eyre
Get it write
Desks, once akin to instruments of torture for scribes, have become cherished repositories of memories and secrets. Matthew Dennison charts their evolution
'Sloes hath ben my food'
A possible paint for the Picts and a definite culprit in tea fraud, the cheek-suckingly sour sloe's spiritual home is indisputably in gin, says John Wright
Souvenirs of greatness
FOR many years, some large boxes have been stored and forgotten in the dark recesses of the garage. Unpacked last week, the contents turned out to be pots: some, perhaps, nearing a century old—dense terracotta, of interesting provenance.
Plants for plants' sake
The garden at Hergest Croft, Herefordshire The home of Edward Banks The Banks family is synonymous with an extraordinary collection of trees and shrubs, many of which are presents from distinguished friends, garnered over two centuries. Be prepared to be amazed, says Charles Quest-Ritson
Capturing the castle
Seventy years after Christian Dior’s last fashion show in Scotland, the brand returned under creative director Maria Grazia Chiuri for a celebratory event honouring local craftsmanship, the beauty of the land and the Auld Alliance, explains Kim Parker
Nature's own cathedral
Our tallest native tree 'most lovely of all', the stately beech creates a shaded environment that few plants can survive. John Lewis-Stempel ventures into the enchanted woods
All that money could buy
A new book explores the lost riches of London's grand houses. Its author, Steven Brindle, looks at the residences of plutocrats built by the nouveaux riches of the late-Victorian and Edwardian ages
In with the old
Diamonds are meant to sparkle in candlelight, but many now gather dust in jewellery boxes. To wear them today, we may need to reimagine them, as Hetty Lintell discovers with her grandmother's jewellery
