3/4cttw 19 Diamond Kentucky Cluster Ring with Filigree Sides in 14k Yellow Gold

A Kentucky cluster ring in the full traditional layout: nineteen round diamonds, .75 carat total weight, set one at the centre, six around it and twelve around those, each in its own raised prong head on a round white gold top whose rim is scalloped around the outer stones. The top sits on a yellow gold shank with wide shoulders pierced in open filigree scrollwork, so that light shows through the sides. 7.60 grams of 14k gold.

The Kentucky cluster is a regional form, and this is the regional form done properly. The white gold top is the classic choice for a reason: against white metal the nineteen stones stop being nineteen small things and read as one bright disc, which is the entire point of a cluster — presence from across a room, at a fraction of what a single stone of that spread would cost. Nineteen is the full count, one, six and twelve, not the seven or nine of the lighter versions, and the open filigree shank is the heavier, older pattern rather than a plain band. It has been worn by men and women in this state for a hundred years and it still gets noticed. Which hand has been waiting for it?