The Block
No. 014 · The Claim
from 21.4 g in 14K at US 10
$450 in vermeil
Image rendered from the 3D file we cast from.
No. 531 · The Assay Office
An octagonal face in a stepped frame.
The Assay Office
In 1851 the US Assay Office in San Francisco struck an octagonal fifty-dollar gold piece, the ’slug’. Octagon sets nugget relief in an eight-sided face inside a stepped polished frame.
In 1851 California was full of gold but had no federal coinage, and gold dust passed as money. In San Francisco, the United States Assay Office of Gold struck octagonal fifty-dollar pieces, assayed and stamped, known as slugs. In Australia, the Latrobe nugget, found in 1853, is a cluster of gold crystals, most of them octahedrons with eight faces. Octagon takes the shape of the slug: eight sides, a stepped frame and the nugget relief in the middle.
Your order details identify the selected metal. The weight is estimated from the 3D file we cast from. A cast ring comes out 2 to 3% lighter than its file, and the range shown already includes this. Your price is fixed when you pay and is never adjusted to the weight; your certificate records the actual weight. The interior is measured on the 3D design; finished samples still need workshop verification.
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At the assay office, loose gold was melted, tested for fineness and cast into stamped bars. These rings take the shapes of that trade: bars, ingots, octagons and stepped frames, with the nugget relief set inside them.
More from The Assay OfficeMy uncle runs a jewelry workshop and makes engagement rings for brides. I develop the designs; each one is a 3D file, measured for its weight in every metal and size. His workshop casts the ring in your size after you order, and the certificate gives the metal and the cast weight.
Our story14K keeps the warm yellow of our pictures, and its price follows the gold price. Vermeil is the same ring in sterling silver covered with 18K gold, and sterling silver is the same ring again. Sterling silver and vermeil have a fixed price per design.
Compare the metalsCast in your size after you order, by my uncle’s workshop.
Making and shippingFree shipping in the US.
ShippingCatalog rings without engraving, within 30 days of delivery.
ReturnsAsk before you order: sizing, metal, timing.
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