Carved Ocean Jasper face by Gary WilsonSmiling Ring
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Gary Wilson used to carve stones on occasion, and I am fortunate to still have some of his fabulous carvings. This cherry little Ocean Jasper face has been in my stash for longer than I care to admit. Gary always figures out something marvelous to do with even the smallest piece of a beautiful stone, as in this case.
The story of Ocean Jasper is a fascinating one, we've discussed it many times so I won't repeat it here. Mineralogists are now saying that the material isn't Jasper but rather it is a harder "spherulitic or orbicular Chalcedony." There are two nearby deposits one only visible at low tide off Madagascar, the other inland from there near Kambay. My guess, based on color and the year I bought it, is that this stone was from the "first vein" (of four known).
Simmons says Ocean Jasper is "a stone of joy and high spirits" so it makes sense that this one is smiling. Bill Atkinson loves the stone so much he included it four times in his beautiful book, Within the Stone (only Petrified Wood and Pietersite have more entries). Since I love the book so much, I'll quote Dorion Sagan's essay which seems to refer to this very stone: "...I see a candy planet, some secret sister of a Saturnian moon, her green-streaked metaforms, her ices and atmosphere, ..." The secret sister may be secret no more: last month (Oct. 2019) astronomers announced they had found 20 more moons of Saturn, bringing the total to 82.
If you like this sweet ring I hope you'll order it today.
