This is one of those incredibly designed necklaces that was given much thought to create & could have only been made by one with a mathematical mind, one with a strong sense for design & years at being a jeweler. It takes a lot to wow me, but it's pieces such as this, that I can't help but applaud & are truly impressive to me! One thing that is clearly obvious, is the apparent time it took to make!

THE COLLAR:

This showy & very stunning looking Cleopatra collar is something that could not have been made in a matter of a few hours, when you figure that each & every one of these irregular pentagon shaped Lapis were cut & shaped completely by HAND! The straight lines on the sides are cut with precision & their tips are cut in a perfect "V" shape! The Lapis lays flush inside their bezel & then at the top of each cut are hand made tubular cylinders. (See photo 6) These cylinders allow the cuts to move. The necklace is brilliantly made with 3 "Hinged" sections & the reason for this is, so that it can bend at the neckline & follow the curvature of the neck.(See photos 7,8,9,12)

**Similar to a "Neck Ring" or what some would say is similar to a "Torque" necklace, I do want to mention that because the tubular cylinders are threaded through a super heavy gauge wire, does not allow the frontal part of the necklace to bend. As I mentioned, the only place it bends is at the hinges. **

Each of the Lapis cuts have an abundant amount of pyrite, which is what you want to see with the better grade cuts,as well as each having the same depth of color as the next. No where does the color vary, so they're nice & uniform. There was no skimping on materials, nor was it made in a frugal manner, so there is a hefty amount of both stone & metal, which contributes to it's 12 ounce weight.(See weights below)

MEASURING:

Because of the curved design, this was harder to measure than others. Since this could not be measured with a regular paper measure, I instead took a string & followed it from end to end (Excluding the tongue at the closure) ,marked the string at where it ended & then measured that. So this measured in the 18" range,which is the length where Cleopatra collars should lay on the neckline.