.38cttw 7 Round Diamond Flower Cluster Ring in 14k White Gold

Seven round brilliants make up the head — one at the centre with six ringed evenly around it — and each sits in its own claw inside a scalloped white gold collar that lifts up between the stones like petals. The cluster domes slightly, so the outer six tilt outward and catch light at a different angle from the centre stone; that tilt is what keeps a small cluster from reading flat. The shank is plain and tapers to a narrow band, which leaves the head to do all of the work. It is 14k white gold at 4.40 grams, with just over a third of a carat spread across the seven stones.

The seven-stone flower cluster is one of the most-made designs in twentieth-century jewelry, which is exactly why it pays to look at how one is built. The difference is the collar: this one is scalloped and raised between the stones rather than pressed flat around them, so light reaches the diamonds from the sides and the head has real depth instead of looking like a printed disc. It wears and photographs larger than its carat weight, and with the stones set down inside the collar there is nothing standing up to catch on clothing. Isn't a ring you can wear every day worth more than one you can't?