Entry 51: Basilia Pintabona (Part 6) - Flawed Beauty

Location: Sicily, Italy

Date: 1914

Seven colourless glass “stones” are clustered together with uneven spacing, forming the shape of a flower. One of these “stones”, rather than blending in with the others, stands out with its imperfect milky hue. The floral setting is surrounded by a cutout halo made of rose gold, all of which is mounted in the centre of an engagement ring.

On the inside of the band, the jeweller’s lopsided hallmark is embossed in capitals: RAFD. Once, a long time ago, these letters stamped on his jewellery meant something, but today, the unregistered trademark has lost its significance, becoming nothing more than a bunch of random letters. Although his handcrafted ring survives, the artisan has disappeared into oblivion, forever anonymous.

The engagement ring never fitted the owner properly, and although it was too big, it was never resized. Instead, to prevent the loose-fitting ring from accidently sliding off, it was usually worn on the middle finger of her left hand.

This 112-year-old antique is priceless, despite its asymmetrical imperfections and absence of any diamonds. Its value is purely sentimental, solely because it originally belonged to my nonna, Basilia Pintabona.