HOW BEAUTIFUL GEMS ARE PUT IN SETTINGS.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 19258, 20 December 1930, Page 27 (Supplement)

HOW BEAUTIFUL GEMS ARE PUT IN SETTINGS.

To set gems properly, so as to emphasise all the beauty and special features of a stone according to the cutting, requires great experience and sound judgment. The angle at which one stone is fixed in relation to another, the importance of the light being not simply refracted, but seen in transition so as to bring out the beauty of the colour, are points which require no ordinary consideration; for stones, which by one mode of setting would look very brilliant, may be made to look very commonplace by another. Crystalline gems, like the diamond and topaz, are generally cut in such a manner as to have flat, smooth faces. Precious stones which decompose the light and thus produce a play of colours are polished in such a manner as to heighten this effect as much as possible. This is accomplished b}' making a large number of small facets. Precious stones which do not crystallise and are distinguished by play of colours, like the opal, or peculiar effects, like the cat’seye, are usually polished round or oval, like a loaf of bread or half of an egg. Gems are generally set in two different ways distinguished as a “ free setting ” and “ band .setting.” In the former the stone is exposed on all sides, and held only by little clasps. All its proporperties, its fire, its play of colour, show to the best advantage here. Very valuable gems are never set any other way. In a band setting the stones form the lid of a gold box, and if the gem is transparent, the upper surface is generally made fiat and smooth, while the under side forms a low pyramid. M