Blue Amber & Mexican Fire Opal Sterling Silver Pendant

Blue Amber is only found in one single location on our planet – the Dominican Republic. This material is incredibly rare and sourced from dangerous mines south of La Cumbre.  Blue Amber is so rare, that sales of the rough material is fiercely guarded by local mafia gangs, seeking to monopolise the market. Adam got into trouble with them as he was offering double the price to the miners for their amber – a situation which was not taken lightly! Forced to flee in the middle of the night and go into hiding, he later found his hotel room had been ransacked. Lucky for us that the gang didn't go into the bathroom, where the small haul of precious amber Adam had acquired had been soaking off in the bath.  He says that the Blue Amber pendants we have feature the best of this haul from his trip back in 2007, so grab it whilst you can because he's not going back in a hurry!

Mined in the town of Tequila, this opal formed inside gas bubbles of the host rock Rhyolite. Adam went to the mines in 2013 and worked alongside the miners there. Mining this opal is hard work, mostly done using hand tools. When there is no opal to be found, the miners harvest the native agave cactus to distill into the drink tequila . The gems form in small ancient gas pockets in the host rock, which is pretty hard stuff. As with a lot of opal, you have to shift large amounts of stone and dirt to get to the gem material and this is mostly done by hand (unless you can get hold of some homemade explosives!) Because the opal cannot usually be completely separated from the Rhyolite it is ‘inclusion-heavy’.

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!