Mastery of Design: An Exceptional Emerald Ring, 1850

Emerald Ring
Unknown Maker, 1850
Part of the Townshend Collection, 1869
The Victoria & Albert Museum

In 1869, cleric and poet Reverend Chauncy Hare Townshend bequeathed an impressive collection of 154 rare gem stone pieces to the Victoria & Albert Museum. Among them, this emerald ring is one of the most magnificent.


A perfect, square-cut emerald, surrounded a border of twenty-four brilliant-cut diamonds and set in gold. The shoulders of the ring each feature four brilliant-cut diamonds and two rose-cut diamonds.

While most of the stones in the Townshend Collection are set as rings, they were, most likely never meant to be worn.

A Portion of the Townshend Collection
The Victoria & Albert Museum