S925 Silver Samsara Gesang Flower Open Ring

Gesang in Tibetan means good times, or good luck, but the gesang flower is not one botanical species. Several wildflowers of the high plateau are called by that name — cosmos, aster, potentilla — and different places mean different plants. Ask three people and you get three answers. The pattern doesn't chase a species; it takes the sense of petals opening and turns it into a closed ring, which ties to the word samsara in the name. The flower in the name is a way of speaking, not a botanical plate.

The six designs each have a source. The yungdrung is a Bön symbol, a left-facing swastika form standing for unchanging permanence, which is not the same as the Buddhist right-facing version, so watch the direction. The Three Jewels are Buddha, Dharma and Sangha. The AH syllable is a Tibetan seed syllable, written in one stroke and ending on a long vowel. Palden Lhamo is a Tibetan protector goddess with her own festival in Lhasa in the tenth lunar month. The urna is one of the thirty-two marks of a buddha, the point of white between the brows. Sun and moon is the commonest symbol in Tibetan art, sun right and moon left, or sun above and moon below, depending on the convention being followed.

The open band is the practical part. For fingers with thick knuckles and a narrow base, a closed ring either won't go on or goes on and spins; an open design sidesteps the problem. The pattern occupies only the front section, with plain metal at the sides, so none of the six looks crowded on the hand. AH and sun-and-moon are the plainest, where a single line is enough; yungdrung and urna are dense, and if the engraving is shallow it muddles. Hold the ring to the light and check the lettering when you choose.

Silver's softness is an advantage here, because the band can be adjusted. It is also a disadvantage, because it deforms with wear. Adjust by sliding the ring onto the finger and easing it; don't pull it open into a wide gap and squeeze it shut, which will break it in two goes. The ends should be rounded into small balls or discs. A straight cut end scrapes the skin, and more so when you sweat in summer. Don't lift heavy things while wearing it, because load on the band pushes the ends apart, and once open they won't close. When you wash your hands, turn the ring and dry the base of the finger. That does more than any care product.

After oxidation, the black in the recesses throws the pattern forward, which is one of the few ways silver improves with age. Don't soak the whole ring in dip; it comes out uniformly white and the pattern flattens with it. Use a silver cloth on the high points only and let the recesses stay dark. Store it in its own bag, because silver against silver abrades, and with six designs in one box the lettering is the first thing damaged.