SIR WILLIAM MAUVE

(the ring shown in the second image will be available at a future date) 

The "Sir William" mauve you see in this BLEE is a tribute to a man who didn't just find a color; he found a way to bottle a chemical enigma that took the rest of the world a century to solve.

This is a true story.

William Henry Perkin (1838–1907), an 18-year-old British chemistry student, accidentally discovered mauveine (mauve) in 1856 while attempting to synthesize the antimalarial drug quinine from coal tar. This serendipitous discovery produced the first synthetic aniline dye, revolutionizing the fashion industry and launching the modern chemical industry.
~Wikipedia