Victorian 18K Yellow Gold Banded Agate Necklace

Victorian 18K yellow gold and banded agate necklace. Three banded agate stations — each one striped in the distinctive black and white that made Scottish agate a Victorian favorite — are set within elaborate repoussé floral frames of 18K yellow gold, the raised swirling petals and ribbed forms pushed up from the reverse with the kind of technical skill that produced lightweight, visually opulent pieces that feel almost impossibly delicate for their scale. The chain connecting them is constructed from rectangular pierced links flanked by matching repoussé roundels, giving the entire necklace a remarkable visual cohesion. A tour de force of mid-Victorian goldsmithing.