Diamond crossover ring. Set with two round old cut diamonds in open back claw settings with a combined approximate weight of 1.65 carats flanked by six round transitional cut diamonds in open back grain settings with a combined weight of 0.15 carats. The total approximate diamond weight is 1.80 carats, to an elegant crossover design featuring curving claws, an intricately pierced gallery and fancy open backholing, leading to sinuous shoulders flowing through to a solid D-shape shank. Tested yellow gold and settings tested palladium, numbered '172', circa 1940.

Our in-house gemmologists have graded the centre diamonds, setting permitting, to be approximately J-K colour and SI clarity.

This style of ring first became popular in the Edwardian and Belle Époque eras. The idea of two central stones is especially romantic and sometimes referred to as a 'toi et moi' ring, it symbolises the uniting of two souls.

Palladium is a silvery-white metal discovered in 1803 by English chemist and physicist William Hyde Wollaston and was named after the Greek goddess Pallas, the daughter of Triton (god of the sea). It was not widely used in jewellery until 1939, when it became an alternative to platinum, which was highly restricted after it was declared a strategic government resource during World War II.

This ring is in excellent condition.