Ring Ins-and-Outs

I am a great smasher of stone rings. I blame it on the dangerous combination of living in an apartment with ceramic tiled floors, and being hypoglycaemic. When my blood sugar levels fall too low, I can become klutzy and nerveless – my hands lose their strength and I drop things (I’ve been this way since I was a child) – although I don’t think I can blame my formidable track record on umbrella-wrecking on this unfortunate condition!

Last Sunday I dropped my last black agate ring to the bathroom floor, and it broke into three pieces. It was the last of three I had bought a few years ago on eBay to replace the onyx ring I had bought in Vietnam nearly a decade ago. The same morning I hunted frantically on eBay for replacements, and happily found a Chinese seller who offered a plethora of colours. I went a bit mad and not only bought two black rings, but lilac, white and tortoiseshell rings as well! (They were only $2.50 each, so why not?)

The seller also had red and green agate rings; I already have a carved red jade ring I bought in Hong Kong with a matching bangle (both have survived my clumsiness), and also I have this green ring, so I decided not to spend an extra $5.

Maybe I should have, because this jade ring, which I bought from an op shop, turned out to have already been broken and glued back together by its previous owner. I had not noticed this when I bought it (caveat emptor!).

One day as I just left home, I heard a little tinkle in the driveway. Luckily I stopped, for there rolling at my feet were the two halves of the ring! Miraculously they didn’t break further, and I was able to successfully glue them back together. The black ring is a lost cause, however, for although it looks like just two pieces, it’s actually missing another sliver.

Photos: August 2016 (green jade), today (red jade and black onyx)