Sliced Meteorite and Opal Necklace

This beautiful meteorite and diamond necklace is arguably one of the most interesting and "out of this world" projects we have had the pleasure of recently creating. Our long standing colleague and friend Rachael Sarc helped design and create this fabulous jewel. This necklace features eight pieces of sliced meteorite strung together on a black, rhodium plated 18 karat white gold chain with carved opal beads separating each meteorite. 

 

This client has a passion for fine jewelry but loves obscure, rarified items such as meteorite. Meteorite is a mineral that consists predominately of iron and is subject to the same acid wash etching process that is used for Damascus steel. By putting the meteorite in a series of acid baths, the acid eats away at the veins of softer metals within the mineral, revealing the gorgeous geometric pattern shown on the piece.

 

The next obstacle in this design is the setting of the pave diamonds. Since iron is such a dense metal, the tools we traditionally use on various softer precious metals kept braking when drilling the iron.  

In the end the necklace came out beautifully, and as Susan always says, fabulous results are not an accident; they begin with intention!