Featured What is this worn down stone? coral? cameo?

What is the stone in this 10K ring? It is very worn down, looks like shell or coral. I feel like there is a specific name for this, and I should know it, but I can't think of it. Thanks!

 

Maybe this?

 

It is not likely to be shell. Coral is the strongest possibility, to my mind.

 

LOL AJ

 

Hi, I’m wondering if it’s Sandstone - there are many different colors available. Take a peak…

 

those striations and color remind me of horn...

 

Thank you for all your suggestions. In hand it looks most like coral. I just don't get what that white blob in the middle is.

 

Any chance it is agate? One common color of agate would be that buttery carnelian color, and agate might well have white streaks. (At first I thought it was just a light reflection, but clearly is part of the stone).
Coral might also have white streaks, but I'm not sure that is a very common color for coral...though I am more familiar with agate than with coral, having collected and tumble-polished quite a lot of agates.

 

Thanks for the idea, Steve. In hand, it does not look like agate to me.

 

It looks like a worn down cameo to me!
The lady is nearly gone.
I think it's upside down in the photos.

 

That was my first thought too, but I don't see how an actual carved cameo could get worn down to a thin blob with no vestige of carved design.

 

It reminds me of a blister pearl, but in a different material.

 

It doesn't look like any coral I've seen, with those hairline striations.
You can test for coral or shell by placing a drop of lemon juice on the stone. If you see bubbles it is either coral or shell.

I still think it could be petrified wood, which is fossilised wood.
Wood is often petrified into agate. Agate can have those white streaks or blotches, as @all_fakes pointed out, and some woods have thin striations which are petrified along with the body of the wood.

(spot the face )

https://www.etsy.com/uk/listing/649845697/petrified-wood-stone-petrified-wood-slab

 

I still maintain it's a worn down cameo.
Look at these, they are almost gone and resemble @drg642's ring. If you look closely, you can see the outline of the lady's head on @drg642 's ring. But it is photographed upside down. I flipped the image over in the last photo. I can see the outline of the lady's head.

 

You're right, @stracci , it does have the outline of a lady's head. It only needed to be flipped over for us lesser mortals to see.

 

Well, it was pretty hard to see, anyway!
Someone apparently never took this ring off, ever.
That's why everyone needs lots of rings. You switch them out so this doesn't happen!
The cameo lady didn't have to be obliterated.
So sad!

 

could an old shell have been put into a newer ring???

the ring itself does not look like it's had a hard life...

 

No, not at all. The style of the ring doesn't look old enough either.

 

Wow Stracci, I see it now. Thanks! There are just the slight remains of a wider outline around the white blob. I've added 2 contrast enhanced photos.
The ring itself is in nice shape. I suppose an original ring could have been very worn and a very worn cameo of sentimental value put into a new setting.
I don't think I could find a buyer for such a worn down cameo, and I can't bring myself to scrap beautiful old settings like this. I never know what to do with things like this.