Lapis Oval gemstone set in a hand-carved Silver ring. The Lapis Lazuli is a good natural deep blue colour, Afghanistan origin, from the wild mountainous region of the far north-east of the country, the source of this fabled gemstone rock forever, the only source globally until its discovery in Chile, in the Andes, where it has been mined since the early 1900s. The Chilean Lapis can sometimes approach the quality of the Afghani gemstone rock, but the Afghani material is consistently a better quality, and at the top end of pure deep dark night ultramarine blue, the Afghani is supreme.
The Lapis Lazuli in the above Silver ring is not of the top ASGrade Afghani blue, but is of a quite reasonable quality, and the handcarving skill shown in the Silver setting is excellent, involving much time and care and application.