Empress Julia Domna – Ancient Roman Coin Ring

Julia Domna - was a beautiful important woman in ancient Roman history. 

She lived between  the years 170 AD - 217 AD. 

Authentic Ancient Roman Coin Ring

Julia was the beloved wife of  the Roman Emperor Lucius Septimius Severus and mother of Emperors Geta and Caracalla. Was known for her high intelligence and was most influential in political affairs.

Julia was born into a very rich Roman senatorial aristocratic family, from the city of Homs (historically known as Emesa) in Syria.

She had a happy marriage. She was well read and loved philosophy,  admired by the emperor - her spouse..

Septimius Severus became emperor in 193 and became involved in a civil war. Julia accompanied him at a time when it was rather unusual for women to take part in wars, as only men attended the battle fields at that historical period,  but she stayed with her husband, and to show his gratitude, coins were struck with her image.

Julia Domna (170 AD - 217 AD)

Her hair style was beautiful and unique, an inspiration for many hair stylists even to this day.

After the death of her husband, Julia’s two sons were murdered on different occasions.

Julia suffered of breast cancer. She ended her own life by committing suicide.

I handcrafted a silver ring and set an ancient silver Roman coin in it:
You can see the image of Julia Domna on this authentic coin.

Julia Domna Silver coin set it a silver ring by rioritajewelry

Authentic Ancient Roman Coin Ring- Inside the ring



The back of the coin shows the Roman goddess Diana.


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You will find more rings in my Etsy shop

Please view my ring section in my Etsy shop.

New Silver Gold Opal Ring

I have recently sold one of my Opal rings. Suddenly I had a feeling that my etsy shop needs an addition of a new Opal ring. I searched my box of stones. There it was, just waiting to be given all the loving attention it deserves - a  beautiful freeform natural Queensland Australian Pipe Opal stone.

I took it to my workshop and spontaneousely sat at my work bench and made this lovely ring:

After handcrafting the silver bezel and band, I felt I needed to add a few 14k tiny balls to each side of the bezel. This photograph shows how it looks when facing the ring:

I love the Pink, light Turquoise and  yellow glows of the ring with the brown sandstone which supports the Opal.

I am very happy with the result. I hope you will like it too after you hopefully

visit my shop. I believe you will find some more interesting jewelry pieces there.

Thank you for watching.

Silver Prehnite and Jasper Necklace

It has almost been a year before I visited this blog of mine. I guess moving from my old apartment to a new one, used up all my attention. Well, here I am again, and may I say, it is very nice to be here again.

This does not mean I haven't been handcrafting jewelry during this time. On the contrary, I've handcrafted quite a few new jewelry items. The latest and newest one is my Silver Prehnite and Jasper Necklace.

A few years ago I bought a row of beautiful large facetted Prehnite beads. It was love at first site. Such a beautiful Green color, facetted in an assymmetric way, with black inclusions here and there. Even though their price was higher than my budget, I bought them right away. Truth is I did not know what to do with them. How to do them justice and use them them best way I could, instead of just beading them on a string. Suddenly, a few days ago, I finally had an idea. I handcrafted a Sterling Silver bow, with two loops on each end, and twelve loops on the lower part of the bow. On each one of the soldered loops I hung Silver wires with twelve of the beads.

At first I only hung the Prehnite beads, but when I tried to see how it would look against my skin, I thought to myself "boring". Also, somehow they were beautiful, but against the skin they needed enhansement. So - I searched further among my beads and tried to match them with other much smaller ones of a contrastin color. I finally decided on the lovely facetted Orange Jasper beads which were lying there for a few years too.  I added them. Now, against the Prehnite they look awesome and enlivened my whole appearance. I loved the combination and decided that this was IT.

On each side of the bow I have added a smooth snake like industrial chain, with the thought that the chain should be a modest minimalistic one,so as not to compete with the beads. I added a hammered hook as a clasp and looked happily at the outcome. Hope you will like it too.

Rioritajewelry Silver Prehnite and Jasper Necklace

https://www.etsy.com/shop/rioritajewelry

My Large Citrine Silver Flower Ring


Have I told you  before? I love using the Repousse technique when designing and planning a new  piece of jewelry. Somehow I prefer this to making models in wax, which is what most designers do these days. Instead of using wax  I like to simply pick up a piece of flat silver and hammer it to a certain form . I carefully hammer to my heart's delight, measure, cut etc. until I am satisfied with the result. This flower ring is one example.

Giant Citrine Silver Ring by Rioritajewelry

For this ring I hammered two pieces of silver separately. I gave the larger piece a shape of a flower, to  the smaller – A shape which would be able to embed an oval bezel for a stone. I soldered them together,one facing the other, and finally soldered the bezel on top and set the Citrine stone in it, a silver band ring was added on the back.

I find the result is not bad at all. Don't you agree?

On the back you will find the Sterling silver hallmark and my personal signature. 

It is a One of a kind (OOAK)  item.

As for the Citrine stone - it belongs to a mineral quartz group. The Citrine colors range from yellow , reminding us of the  more expensive Yellow Topaz – to brown which resembles Smokey Quartz.  There are orange variations too.

Citrine is also known as the “stone of the mind” because there were ancient cultures which believed that when placing this stone on  a human's  forehead,  it would increase his psychic abilities. Well, as I have a few Citrine stones, and am not so very young any more, only at heart that is, I will try this on myself. Perhaps I shall even let you know the results...(Laughing Out Loud).

Getting serious again - When  Citrine crystals and  Amethyst stones are formed together by heating,  a  bi-colored gemstone is created - the Ametrine.

And more – most Citrine stones in the market today, are heat-treated Amethysts and mostly arrive from Brazil Although Brazil  sells natural stones too. More  Citrine stonescome to us from The Ural Mountains in Russia,  France and Madagascar.  The brown stone in my ring is a NATURAL Citrine stone.

Lower grade Citrine stones result from being heated at  high temperatures.  By using this process we receive a variety of orange,  and Cherry  colors.  The darker they get - the more valuable they are.

Thank you for watching!

Riorita - Handmade Jewelry Designs

Riorita - Handmade Jewelry Designs

New Handcrafted Ancient Roman and Greek Coin Jewelry

Being a person who loves to indulge in ancient history, I am always somewhat excited when I add a new Ancient coin to my collection. I keep many of the coins in my collection, but when I have similar items, I allow myself to create jewelry with them and try to market them, hoping people will discover the charm of wearing ancient coins, which have been around for thousands of years, as much as I do,

Lately I have handcrafted three different jewelry pieces with some of my favorite Antique coins:

1.  ancient silver Roman coin necklace

 Authentic bronze coin which was struck around 337AD. The front of the coin reveal the image of Constantius II , sun of the great Constantine I, who was the emperor of Romebetween the years 337AD and 361AD. On the back you will observe an oak wreath with monograms. The coin is set in a Sterling  bezel.  I decided to create a minimal design. The coin pendant hangs from a Sterling Silver foxtail necklace.

Sncient Roman Coin Sterling Silver Necklace - Constantius

The length of the  necklace can be readjusted acc. to customer's requirements

The necklace can be worn two sides.

 2. Ancient Greek Coin Necklace - Goddess Athena

Another necklace, with a very rare bronze Ancient Greek coin.  On the front of this coin you can see the image of Greek Goddess Athena. The coin was struck in Thessalonica, Macedonia - Greece, between  158-149 B.C.  Athena's head is shown with a helmet, which is one of her attributes.On the back you will find an oak wreath with monograms. This coin is from a short period after the Romans had conquered the Macedonians.  The style of the coin is rather Roman than Greek, as in Roman coins from that period.

I hammered a round pendant with a design surrounding the bezel of the coin. I set the coin in the middle. I added two loops on each side of the pendant. To each loop I added an industrial loop chain. The necklace has a hammered hook close to the pendant, simply because I personally like it that way. However, if customers prefer to shorten the chain or change  the hook to the back, I can change this. I will appreciate it if customers let me know prior to purchase.

It is a a statement necklace and a one of a kind item ooak).

Ancient Greek Coin Necklace - Athena

3.  Ancient Roman Coin Ring

This is another coinfacing  Constantius II. The coin is set on top of a Sterling Silver ring. I decorated the sides by wrapping a fine silver thread. The inside  of the ring shows us the large winged Goddess Nike who is the Goddess of Victory. Her name in Roman mythology is - Victoria. 

Ancient Coin Ring Constantius

Goddess Nike (Victoria) inside the ring.

I found a sculptured image of Nike on the net. This can be found in Ephesus, today's Turkey :

A great weekend to you all!

My New Giant Silver Ruby Ring

As July's birthstone is the Ruby, here are a few important facts about this stone:
Rubies are naturally created from aluminum oxide -  corundum -  which also exists in Sapphires.  The Ruby's range of colors is from Pink to Blood red. The red colors  come from the element chromium in the mineral. The name "Ruby" originated from  Latin "ruber" which means "red".The most valuable Rubies are the brighter ones. They are called "pigeon blood-red". What also determines their price is clarity and weight (carat) . Every authentic Ruby has needle-like inclutions such as in authentic Aquamarine stones. A Ruby whithout the "needles" is probably a stone which was treated.

To handcraft my new giant Ruby Ring I hammered a flat piece of sterling silver to the shape of a flower. Then I picked a dark oval Ruby cabochon and set it in the middle . The color of the stone is  dark red and it has the needle inclusions I've mentioned above.  Finally I attached a hammered sterling band on the back, oxidized it and gave it a satin finish.  The other side of the ring is oxidized too.

Last month I had added another red gemstone ring to my Etsy shop. The stone is a lovely Rhodocrosite stone which I set in a sterling silver ring which I had handcrafted for it:

Silver and Rhodocrosite Ring

Rhodocrosite is a mineral with  multiple shades. The range is  Raspberry red to rose pink and even slightly orange hues. Most of the Rhodocrosite stones are found in Argentina.

Rhodochrosite is said to create for you a harmonious life with love and friendship, kindness, tolerance together with self-love. It is said to improve eye sight. The Incas believed this gemstone contains the blood of their ancient kings which has become stone. Therefor they call it  "Inca Rose".

This ring has a most beautiful pink color. reminds me very much of a Ruby without needle inclusions.

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