Sterling Silver, diameter 12 mm, design Birgitta Niepoort
Designed to be beautiful and comfortable, these ear studs in Sterling Silver are handmade in Denmark and inspired by fossils from sea urchins.
Sea urchins are best known as stone chores in flint found on Danish beaches, but if one looks in the layers of lime where the sea urchin originates, one will encounter sea urchins in another form of conservation, namely as original and fragile limestone shells. Sea urchins are thus not only a representative of the rich wildlife in the Danish limestone deposits, but also a good example of various forms of conservation and there are fossils of sea urchins that are 450 million years old.
In the old days, fossil sea urchins were called thunderstones because it was believed that the five radii of well- preserved sea urchins originated from lightning that sprang from the wagon wheel of the Thunder God. The wheels on Thor´s chariot must thus have five spokes. Fossilized sea urchins are found everywhere where flint is found- in fields, on the beach and in gravel pits, but certainly in and by coastal cliffs with lime and chalk.