Onyx rings

by Madhubanti Rudra

Onyx is the shear beauty of illustrious black, that from antiquity, men had been drawn to. A derivative from Greek word, onux, meaning fingernail, onyx displays fine nails-like white or reddish silicon dioxide bands, thus justifying its naming. A stone famous for its texture that is ideal for curving, creates astonishing impact when mounted on a ring.

The background as onyx as a gemstone

From time immemorial gems and jewelleries have been perceived as the powerful statement of position and vanity of the wearer. But when associated with mythical accolades, they attain a deep spiritual significance. The ancient Greeks, known for their astute socio-political foresights, rightly viewed the importance of myth and intelligently spread the legends surrounding divine figures, whose presence on the earth were symbolized by worldly materials found in the environment. In this process, many gemstones came to incorporate divine vibrations which were believed to offer protection and charm of luck to its wearer. Onyx is one of the classical gemstones, having a rich legendary background. Believed to be born out of scattered fingernails of Venus, onyx has multifaceted healing and mystic properties. A traditional healing agent for curing emotional wounds emanating from unsuccessful relations of the past, onyx also help new romantic relations to bloom in life by improving expressive abilities in the lovers. It also works wonderfully for those worried by a constant hair loss by helping to grow hairs on their heads. Onyx has a calming effect on the minds of wearer by sorting out the chaos of life.

Onyx ring: a statement of simplicity

But these are not all the reasons why one should invest on an onyx ring. It is the shear beauty of illustrious black, that from antiquity, men had been drawn to. A derivative from Greek word, onux, meaning fingernail, onyx displays fine nails-like white or reddish silicon dioxide bands, thus justifying its naming. A stone famous for its texture that is ideal for curving, creates astonishing impact when mounted on a ring. Again, design of jewellery, in all ages like the other forms of applied art, has been influenced by the discovery of new materials and more importantly, by the demands of fashion. The twenty first century fashion trends moves round the cluster of multi-coloured gemstones. When the eyes get tired among the crowds of bright reds, blues and greens, the timelessness of black in onyx brings freshness of relief. Then, black always spells class and sophistication. The chief philosophy behind contemporary jewellery being the wearablity, onyx jewelleries offer a typical multipurpose appeal. An onyx ring is in no way unsuitable to an office suit, when you wear this very piece with your black evening grown it becomes the ultimate show stopper. The affordability of this stone makes it even more attractive to the buyers.

Know about onyx

If you plan to buy some stone jewllery, it is mandatory that before parting with your cash know about the basic traits of the gemstone in question. Onyx, which is microcrystalline quartz, belongs to chalcedony family. It comes in brown, grey and black varieties. When the brown chalcedony is found with thin white or reddish brown silicon dioxide stripes or band, they are called sard-onyx. All t5hese varieties of onyx have moderate hardness. It record 7 in the mohs scale of hardness. As long as onyx is concerned, treatments within the limits of trade accepted norms are common practice. Dying, heating and chemical doctoring are the common methods applied to enhance colour in onyx. These treatments have a permanent effect on the stone which has nothing to do with the longivity of the stone. So, the pricing of the stone in no way gets affected by these treatments. Onyx is a layered stone like any other stone belonging to agate family. Please take notice of the fact that treated agates, which are much cheaper, are often sold in the name of black onyx. However, there is a simple way to distinguish onyx from agate. While onyx has straight bands of brown, white or black, agate has curved lines of many colours.

Buying onyx rings

The ring is regarded as the oldest form of ornament, used for the adornment of body. It also symbolized bonding; bonding between man and woman, bonding between two friends, bonding between a master and slave and so on. So, in course of history of jewellery there appeared many kinds of rings like wedding rings, engagement rings, even promise rings. Before buying an onyx ring, first think of the purpose for which you are going to buy one; whether you are going to wear it daily or occasionally-answer to all these questions will determine the design of the ring, the size of the stoner and the choice of the metal. For female rings smaller stones are recommended, while male rings look with a bigger size onyx. He fitting of the ring is very important for the comfort of the wearer. So it will be a wise decision to buy a good quality onyx first, and the get it mounted on a ring of the choice of your design and the size of your finger. Among all the jewlleries ring is most exposed to external abrasion. And since onyx with a moderate hardness is prone to chipping and scratching, special care should be taken at the time of making an onyx ring. The stone should be set inside the bezels or guarded by heavy prongs as much as possible. In order to receive the positive forces of the stone, set in a way that the stone stays in contact of your body and the light passes through the stone to your body. Next important thing is the choice of the metal. The use of white metal like white gold, platinum or even silver can produce a wonderful contrasting effect. Someone who likes an unusual like can go for an onyx ring crafted in mat finished yellow gold. The traditional yellow gold either does not look bad with onyx. After all, the black being a basic colour, onyx can be teamed with anything and everything.

Design options

Onyx, a very popular gemstone among the early Greeks and Romans, who used to craft beautiful seals out of this black beauty has become in course of fashion evolution, a staple stone in the hands of designers of abstractist schools of twenty first century. The imaginative designers combine it with pearls, mother of pearls and sometime with diamonds. Being cost effective, at the same time fashionable-looking the onyx jewelleries have become common items occupying the shelves of leading jewllery stores all round the world. If you want to make a simplistic, minimulistic yet fashionable style statement, an onyx ring is the right choice for you.