Fabergé Friday - But Not Really Fabergé...

Ok. I was looking for what to post for this Fabergé Friday, but then I came across a ring I really felt I wanted to share with you. It wasn't made by Fabergé, but at least it was made in Russia, around 1914, during WWII. The reason I wanted to show it to you is that today skull rings sits on many a finger, mostly as a symbol for death and rock'n'roll. But - what do you know - this trend started a lot earlier than you might think! On October 1, 1913, the skull and cross-bones emblem was officially confirmed by Tsar Nicholas II as the badge of the Alexandrian hussars. At that time the skull motif was immortality rather than death though...

The ring is said to have been given by Tsaritsa Alexandra Feodorovna (consort of Nicholas II) to an officer of the 5th Alexandrian Hussar Regiment of Her Majesty Empress Alexandra Feodorovna. Alexandra was an Honorary Colonel of The Regiment.

The skull measures 0.6 x 0.6'' (1.6 x 1.6 cm), and is made of silver over gold and set with 59 old mine and rose-cut diamonds. The gold ring is a US size 7 and measures 0.7'' (1.8 cm) in diameter. The prize for it is 12,500 USD, and you find it at Romanov Russia.

And this is what the badge and the uniform of the Alexandrian hussars looked like.

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