'Miann' Scottish Carnelian & Elie Pyroxene Scottish Gold & Silver Pendant

Pyroxene is a type of silicate mineral, which has become a hard crystal. The most beautiful Pyroxene crystals are regarded as quality gemstones;  Diopside and Jadeite are examples.  This stunning Black Pyroxene was sourced at Elie Ness in Fife.  

That's right, gold from Scotland! Lesser known that its Californian counterpart, Scottish gold is described by Adam as "rarer than rocking horse poop"! Twenty years after the start of the Californian gold rush, an announcement in a local newspaper in Sutherland caused similar excitement. Towards the end of 1868 it was reported that a Robert Gilchrist has discovered gold in the Strath of Kildonan, northern Scotland. By early summer of 1869 more than 600 people had arrived in the glen to seek their fortune, most of them walking the thirty miles from what was then the railway terminus in Golspie! Nowadays, our nuggets are panned by hand by Adam’s friends Leon and John in the freezing mountain burns (Scots Gaelic for small river). The localities of Tyndrum on the West Coast, and Leadhills in Wanlockhead are now popular places to find these rare nuggets. However, even if you are a professional, it is still a challenge to find more than a 1/4 of a gram of gold a day, and that's once you have spent an entire day preparing the river! This involves removing the big rocks, in order to get down to the bed rock, where the gold lies hiding in the cracks and crevices. It is then collected by a process know as sniping, i.e. crawling along the river bed, scraping the gold from the bedrock. The material is then panned by hand to separate the small stones and gravel from the gold. Now that's what we call a product of love!

Why do silversmiths use 925%? Measured in parts per thousand, pure silver (999%) is too soft so silversmiths mix it with other metals to make it it harder. The purer the metal, the higher the polish, but it is a lot softer (thus less durable). The harder the metal is, the more hard wearing the jewellery is, but it will also tarnish easier as it has less silver content.  Therefore, the silver industry set a standard percentage content for fine silver (925); what we know as "sterling silver".  At Two Skies our silversmiths use 925 (sterling) silver for ring shafts and moving parts, and a very high 950% on our stones settings, which enables us to get a strong jewellery item with a beautiful and secure stone setting, without any gluing. Each piece of our jewellery is hand stamped with our Two Skies Hallmark alongside the recognised industry 925 Hallmark.

Relax - you can shop with confidence at Two Skies.  If you change your mind, simply get in touch to let us know you want to return one or all of your items within 7 days of receiving your order, and we'll get a replacement/refund arranged - no quibbles!

Please be aware that this item is also currently displayed for sale at our shop in Edinburgh - unlike the rest of the items on our website, it is not a website exclusive item.  Therefore, there is a small chance that it may have sold in the shop approximately the same time as it is purchased online - however, we will do our best to avoid this scenario by removing unavailable items as and when they are sold.