Onyx Bar Double Claw Pendant Necklace

This rod shaped pendant is fashioned from onyx, an opaque black stone popular in the last 200 years for use in both men's and women's jewelry.  The rod is clasped between a pair of bird claws, inspired by a 19th century men's stick pin in our personal collection, and which we cast in both recycled sterling and gold.

Claws are a strong symbol of power borrowed from nature. They were--and are again-- popular motifs originally seen in volume in interior designs in the 18th century which was heavily inspired by the then fad for Chinoiserie.  Imported Chinese furniture designs, whose legs were often dragons holding pearls, were absorbed into the era's zeitgeist and morphed into Rococo Dutch furniture designs featuring claws clasping balls...these were so admired that they were later adapted in the 19th century for use in claw-foot tubs, sugar tongs, and decorative accessories such as lapel pins and men's watch fobs.

An interesting note on onyx is that most commercially available, solid black onyx is not naturally occurring as such. Onyx is a member of the chalcedony family whose better known siblings are agate, sardonyx and carnelian.  Most black onyx is, in fact, a dark tone of chalcedony which is dyed to appear solid black.  This process dates back centuries and isn't a modern-day invention. The chalcedony stones come from stalactites and stalagmites, and as a result feature striations in their matrix as the stones are formed over millennia as layers of calcite deposits slowly build up from water dripping down the sides of caves.

CHARM DIMENSIONS:  1 3/8" Long (35mm) x 5/8" High (16mm) including loop x 1/3" Wide (9mm) at widest point. Rod alone has a 6mm diameter.