Georgian Rose Cut Diamond Half Hoop Ring

A c. 1800-1810 Georgian half hoop ring, set with seven rose cut diamonds weighing roughly 0.6 ctw, in cut-down collet settings of silver-topped gold, which taper into a grooved shank of 15k gold. The 6 x 4.5 mm center diamond is particularly charming, featuring a crisp star-patterned crown and a pointed, almost pyramidal, profile more typical of earlier rose cuts. Several early 19th c rose cut diamond half hoops are illustrated on p. 135 of “Georgian Jewellery 1714-1830” by Ginny Redington Dawes with Olivia Collings. Rings of this type were worn almost exclusively by women, popular during the opening decade of the 19th century when Neoclassical fashions demanded simplicity and restraint. The British fashion magazine, La Belle Assemblée, for instance cautioned young women against overdisplay: “A hand loaded with jewels is no longer a hand. Let young females, in particular, shun this useless luxury” (March 1806). Indeed, gone were the monumental plaque rings of the 1780-90s. The magazine’s July edition from that same year featured a letter full of effusive enthusiasm for half-hoop and full-hoop rings: “[…] now anxiously sought for by all our women of fashion; it consists of one row of precious stones set separately, in the form of a hoop […] and has a most attractive and brilliant affect” (p. 335, July 1806).
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