Tibetan Saddle Ring, Silver handcrafted and totally traditional, dating back into the 1950s or earlier. In its time, this ring has been much loved, much worn. Not only has the edge of the gemstone setting itself been worn a little ragged, the floral side patterns have been completely obliterated, the Silver simply worn flat with years and years of wear against the adjoining fingers.
Turquoise is sacred to Tibetans; no Tibetans do not possess examples of Tibetan Turquoise, in bead form, ring form or whatever. The Turquoise in this old Tibetan Saddle ring is typically Tibetan in its lovely greeny-blue. Tibet has a number of Turquoise mines, both to the east and west of the country; the mines in eastern Tibet are said to produce the best Turquoise, in that Turquoise from that region tends to be somewhat tougher and produce a somewhat better polish, but the green-blue of the above Turquoise is typical of Tibetan Turquoise no matter where its source; Tibetan Turquoise is very rarely the sky-blue colour that is often associated with Turquoise from the Southwest United States, or from from the very ancient and still producing mines of Persia.
The Turquoise in the above Saddle ring is the original gemstone for which the ring was made and it certainly is tough, given the wear on its setting edge, and has an excellent polish.
Note: though the above Turquoise setting edge is worn, the gemstone is very firmly in place and is going nowhere without fairly major force, for the Tibetans make sure of the security of the ring settings of their sacred Turquoise by fixing it firmly in a wax bed, before the setting edge is pushed over.