As Old As The Hills...

I've just finished this large prayer-box ring...it measures 2.5" in length! Accented with twisted sterling silver and gallery wire, and decorative fine silver embellishments, it features a fossil Orthoceras, labradorite and garnet cabochons. What is an Orthoceras? It's an ancient mollusk...an extinct Nautiloid cephalopod that lived from the Ordovician Period to the Triassic Period (500 – 200 million years ago). At that time, the earth was mostly covered in water. It had a soft squid-like body inside a cone shell and could grow to fourteen feet in length. Over time, its aragonite shell turned into calcite and fossilized. Wearing this fossil Orthoceras makes this septuagenarian feel pretty darn young by comparison!