Square Black Onyx Eagle Ring with Green and Rose Gold Leaves in 10k Tri Gold

A square tablet of black onyx sits flush in a stepped yellow gold frame, and an eagle is applied across it in yellow gold, wings up and feet down as though it is coming in to land. The eagle is a separate piece fixed on top rather than cast into the face, so the wingtips stand clear of the stone and throw a shadow onto it. Either shoulder carries a cluster of leaves in three different colours of gold — yellow, a distinctly cool green, and rose — laid over an open pierced gallery you can see daylight through. 8.10 grams of 10k, and no stones on it besides the onyx.

The three colours are alloys, not plating, and that distinction is the whole point. Green gold is gold alloyed with silver; rose gold is gold alloyed with copper; yellow sits between them. The colour therefore runs all the way through the metal, so a leaf that gets rubbed for thirty years goes on being green or rose — there is no thin layer to wear off and no line where a coating ends. It is also why the palette is what it is: those are the colours gold will actually go when you alloy it, not colours somebody chose from a chart. Against a black stone all three read at once. How many things get more honest the longer you wear them?