1/4cttw Domed Kentucky Cluster Ring with Open Filigree Sides in 10k Yellow Gold

A Kentucky cluster ring in the traditional nineteen-stone layout: one small round diamond at the centre, six around it and twelve around those, .25 carat total weight, each in its own raised prong head on a round white plate whose rim is scalloped around the outer stones. The plate sits on a domed yellow gold mounting pierced through on both shoulders with open filigree scrollwork, so light shows through the sides. 7.60 grams of 10k yellow gold.

This is the Kentucky cluster in its first-ring form — the same nineteen-stone layout and the same open filigree dome as the heavy carat-weight versions, built at a quarter carat and in 10k so that it costs what a first good ring should. The white plate does the same job here as on the big ones: against white metal the small stones stop being small stones and read as one bright disc from across a room. It is the ring a lot of Kentuckians remember on a grandparent’s hand, and the one that gets bought for a graduation, a first job, a first anniversary, to start the habit. You’d rather wear your colors than explain them, wouldn’t you?