Black CZ Bat Wing Stud Earrings — Gothic .925 Sterling Silver
SKU: 3951
A black cubic zirconia on an oxidized silver wing reads as one dark shape from across a room. Move closer and the stone separates out — faceted and glassy, catching the light that the blackened membrane panels absorb. Each earring is a single bat wing in solid .925 sterling silver, 16mm long and 8mm tall, with the stone held by four prongs at the narrow end. The pair is made as a mirrored left and right, so the wings arc outward in opposite directions when you wear them.
Built For
If you want the stone to read as shadow, not colour — A black CZ does not add a second colour to the earring. The whole piece stays silver and dark, and the only thing that reflects is the facet edges of the stone and the polished ribs on the wing. The oxidized panels between those ribs absorb light instead of returning it.
If you wear gunmetal, steel or black leather — There is no warm tone anywhere on this earring to coordinate around. Silver, black stone, blackened recesses. It sits with a steel watch or a black cuff without the colour clash a red or green stone would create.
If you're buying your first pair of studs — At about 1.3 grams an ear there is nothing pulling on the piercing. The wing lies flat at 8mm tall, the post is a plain cylinder, and the bullet clutch pushes straight on. Nothing here needs a technique to put in.
The Honest Take
A black stone behaves differently from a coloured one. Light does not pass through it and come back tinted — it bounces off the facet surfaces instead. So what you see is a set of small white flashes moving across a dark field as your head turns. Under a lamp the effect is sharp. In flat daylight the stone reads almost matte, closer to a piece of polished jet than a gem.
Heads up: A black stone shows skin oil and dust far more than a red or clear one. A film that would be invisible on the red version of this earring turns a black CZ grey and kills the sparkle completely. Ten seconds with a dry cloth across the top of the stone brings it straight back — but you will need to do it more often than you expect.
The wing itself is finished two ways at once. The membrane panels between the ribs are darkened and slightly granular under a fingertip. The ribs and the long leading edge along the top stay polished. Put a lamp above it and you get one thin bright line running the length of the wing, with everything below it sitting in shadow.
The post is cylindrical rather than flat, and it sits toward the broad end of the wing rather than under the stone. That means you can turn each stud to whatever angle you like — tip up, tip level, tip dropped toward the jaw — and the friction clutch holds it there.
The Details That Matter
Before You Buy
Q: Is the black stone onyx or cubic zirconia?
It is cubic zirconia, not onyx. Each earring holds one round brilliant-cut black CZ in a four-prong basket. Onyx is opaque and usually cut as a smooth dome or a flat panel, so it reads as solid colour. This stone is faceted, which is why it throws small white sparks when it moves.
Q: Will the black on the wings rub off over time?
No. The dark areas are oxidation, not paint or plating. The silver surface itself was chemically darkened, and it sits down in the recessed membrane panels between the raised ribs. A polishing cloth only reaches the high points, so the contrast between bright ribs and dark panels survives normal wear.
Q: Can I wear these if plated earrings irritate my ears?
Probably, though nobody can promise it. There is no plating anywhere on this pair — the wing, the post and the bullet clutch are all solid .925 sterling silver. That means no nickel-bearing base metal sitting under a coating, waiting to reach your skin once the coating wears through. Sterling is alloyed with copper, not nickel.
Q: Is there a meaning behind the bat wing?
It depends entirely on which tradition you ask. In European folklore the bat belongs to vampires and night, which is the reading this design plays to. In Chinese decorative art it means the opposite: the word for bat sounds like the word for good fortune, and a group of five bats stands for the Five Blessings.
At a Glance
You Might Also Want
Same casting, one colour warmer: the bat wing studs with a red CZ put a single point of colour where this pair keeps a dark facet.
Want the whole animal instead of one wing? The solid silver vampire bat ring carries the full spread-wing shape on a finger, at a scale a 16mm stud cannot reach.
Every stud, hoop and drop we make sits in our sterling silver earring range, and the darker designs gather on the gothic jewelry side of the catalogue.