Alpenglow — Titanium Coquina Statement Necklace

 Alpenglow

Titanium Coquina · Sterling Silver · One-of-a-Kind Wearable Art

COLLECTED — Private Collection

There is a moment in the mountains when the last light of day catches the peaks and transforms them. Cool stone suddenly glows with unexpected color—soft pinks, violets, silver and blue against the deepening landscape.

That fleeting light was what I saw in the stone that became Alpenglow.

The unusual Titanium Coquina at the heart of this piece seems almost illuminated from within. Its shifting pink, lavender, blue and silvery tones reminded me of mountain ridges touched by the final light of evening—and rather than simply placing the stone into a setting, I wanted the silver to continue the landscape I saw inside it.

I built the sterling silver around that vision. Textured mountain forms rise around the stone, while the open circle above creates space and distance, giving the composition the feeling of looking out across a mountain landscape beneath an open sky.

A smaller stone rests at the top of the pendant like the last bit of light hovering above the mountains.

The Story Continues Into the Chain

For a piece like Alpenglow, an ordinary chain would have stopped the story at the pendant.

Instead, I handcrafted a gemstone chain using apatite, lapis, onyx, hematite and Aurora beads, choosing the colors to carry the blues, shadows, light and iridescence of the central stone upward around the wearer.

The necklace became one complete composition—from gemstone to silverwork to chain.

That is an important part of how I approach my statement work. I begin with what I see within an unusual stone and allow that story to guide the rest of the design. The finished piece isn't meant to look like anything else I've made, because the stone that inspired it isn't like anything else.

Collected — Private Collection

Alpenglow found its collector for $649.

There was only one stone with this particular landscape. There was only one Alpenglow.

The piece will not be recreated.

It remains here in my Collected Works archive as part of the Christine Keller body of work—a record of a moment when stone, silver and imagination came together to create something that now belongs to one person alone.

Product Details

Artist: Christine Keller
Title: Alpenglow
Primary Stone: Titanium Coquina
Metal: Sterling Silver
Chain: Handcrafted gemstone chain
Chain Gemstones: Apatite, Lapis, Onyx, Hematite & Aurora beads
Original Selling Price: $649
Status: COLLECTED — Private Collection
One of a Kind: Original design; will not be reproduced
Handcrafted in: West Virginia
Artist Signed