DATE: Vintage, c.1960

A stylish 1960s Space Age half eternity ring featuring a half-hoop of channel set sapphires. The deep blue stones form an gorgeous colour contrast with the rich 18 karat yellow gold, and the simplicity of the design gives it a timeless, but distinctly modern, look. The Space Age, aka Atomic Age, refers to the period between 1957 and the early 1970s (although some would argue we're still in it). Movements in architecture, interior design, film and television, automotive design, music, fashion, and jewellery were directly inspired by the cultural obsessions of the time: atomic science, the Space Race and space exploration generally, futurism, and, at its heart, modernism. The designs were forward looking and often radical, incorporating the functionalism and utilitarian trends of the modernist movement and fusing these with new, futuristic forms and advances in material science - plastics particularly. Jewellery of the period was often directly inspired by celestial objects or spacecraft (Sputnik, the Apollo lunar lander, Starship Enterprise, etc. were all replicated as miniature, wearable pieces of precious metal), indeed Jackie Onassis celebrated her 40th birthday wearing a pair of Apollo 11 Moon earrings by LALAoUNIS.

STONES 

Natural Sapphires

MEASUREMENTS 

Width at head: 4.2mm

Width of band: 2.6mm

WEIGHT 

3.9g

MARKS 

English import marks (18k gold)

CONDITION 

Excellent