Wear a piece of history with this conversation-starting jewelry made with ancient pieces of Roman glass. Excavated in Israel, the glass has picked up an iridescent patina from the earth in which it rested for about 2,000 years. 22-karat gold-vermeil wires encircle each glass disk, which may have once been a wineglass, jug, or other vessel. Gold-vermeil is a technique originally developed in mid 18th-century France as a way of gold-plating sterling silver.

Handcrafted in Israel. Necklace is 17"L and pendant is 1 1/4"L.

Vermeil (ver-MAY) is a metal frequently used in jewlery where sterling silver is coated with gold. It was originally produced in France in the mid 18th century.

The material also gave the Vermeil Room in the White House its name. In 1958, First Lady Mamie Eisenhower had an elaborate gold vermeil (also called gilt silver) tableset, a gift from mining heiress Margaret Thompson Biddle, displayed in glass vitrines there.