{"product_id":"quick-mind-african-opal-monkey-zodiac-necklace","title":"The Quick Mind — African Opal Monkey Zodiac Necklace","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003eThe most famous monkey in China spent five hundred years under a mountain for being too good at everything.\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eSun Wukong turns up in a novel published around 1592 and has not left since. He learns immortality, then learns seventy-two transformations, then goes to the underworld and crosses his own name out of the register of the dead. When heaven tries to manage him with a job title, he reads the small print, works out the job is beneath him, and wrecks the place.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eThe Buddha stops him by betting he cannot jump out of a hand. He jumps to what he takes for the end of the universe, signs his name on a pillar there to prove it, and comes back to find he has written on a finger.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eFive hundred years under a mountain for that.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eThe most famous monkey in China spent five hundred years under a mountain for being too good at everything.\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eShen, the ninth earthly branch, is the double hour from three until five in the afternoon. Late enough that most people have stopped thinking properly, which is exactly when quick minds get noticed.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003chr\u003e\u003cp\u003eThe monkey is gold, hanging off a pale silver branch with one hand, reaching for the opal on the far side of the circle.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eThe eye is a single red stone, and it is the only warm point in an otherwise cool piece. That is deliberate — it is the detail that stops the animal looking decorative and makes it look like it is planning something.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eThe metal is solid 925 sterling silver with gold plating on the monkey and the mount. Plating is a surface finish and it wears with time; the silver beneath it does not.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003ePosted to you tracked. 5–10 days to the UK.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eThe reach is what costs — the arm and tail are unsupported across open space, so the piece has to be strong in places where there is nothing behind it.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003ch2\u003eMaterials\u003c\/h2\u003e\u003cul\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eNatural African opal — 4 mm round\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eNano garnet and white cubic zirconia accent stones — laboratory-made, not mined\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e925 sterling silver with gold plating on the monkey and mount\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003ePendant 25.49 mm across, on a box chain\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eFree UK delivery · 5–10 days\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003c\/ul\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003eWorn for centuries as the sign of the mind that will not sit still. Some people feel something when they put a sign on. Some don't. Either way it is an old idea and it is accurately made.\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Asi8","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":49044068991146,"sku":"ASI8-OPA-024","price":189.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0719\/3313\/2970\/files\/24-1.jpg?v=1786612346","url":"https:\/\/asieight.com\/products\/quick-mind-african-opal-monkey-zodiac-necklace","provider":"Asi8","version":"1.0","type":"link"}