Custom Apatite in Matrix Ring

A few years ago in Tucson, I found a teardrop-shaped pair of this material, and set them in all 14K prong settings, sold but not forgotten.

So last year, when I came across this little solo piece from the same dealer, I scooped it up greedily. In chatting with my collector, I mentioned that I had it, and here we are, with a gorgeous custom ring for her.

The gem is set in a thick-walled 18K yellow gold bezel atop a hammer-textured split-shank of double half round, size 7 3/4+. Just dreamy how the hammering matches the speckling of the matrix, and the brightness of that lone apatite crystal just wakes up all that earthiness.