Posted 3 years ago
Belltown
(241 items)
My wife says her grandmother wore this ring on her thumb, so probably designed for a guy. It's about 1 1/2 inches across at the widest point and the opening is about 3/4 inches wide. Weight is 1.55 ounces. My wife always heard the turquoise pieces on the top of the ring referred to as Zuni frogs, so she'd like to know if that's what they actually are. We could not find a mark on the ring, and we have not tried to clean the metal because better to leave it alone until we know what we're doing, right? Also, the decoration shown in the second photo is repeated on the other side.
They are cute fetish frogs! The side decoration is a Zuni star. That is an OLD ring. My guess would be 20s-30s. You can clean it - just don't remove the black oxidization on the lily pad.
From the web:
"Frogs to the Zuni, symbolize abundance, fertility and are considered the bearers of rain. Frogs figured prominently in Zuni origin mythology, as the earliest Zuni were "slimy like frogs, with webbed hands & feet". This amphibian is most often associated with water, prayers for rain & fertility.The word amphibian means double life. It's a good name because many species of amphibian spend part of their life in the water and the other part on the land."
Lovely turquoise ring