MOUNTING AND SETTING 



G. MOUNTING- AND SETTING. 



The majority of precious stones are destined, after being cut, to be devoted to purposes 

 of jewellery. The less valuable stones are occasionally bored with holes and strung together 

 as beads for personal ornaments, such as necklaces and bracelets. It rarely happens that 

 the whole of a personal ornament, such for instance as a finger-ring, is cut wholly in stone ; 

 this may be done, for example, with nephrite, a stone which occurs in sufficiently large masses 

 and is possessed of the necessary toughness and firmness for the purpose. Much more 

 frequently the stone is firmly and permanently fixed in a piece of metal of suitable shape 

 and of more or less artistic workmanship ; this is known to jewellers as the setting of the 

 stone. 



The setting of precious stones and the manner in which different kinds of stones are 

 associated affords scope for the exercise of much taste and judgment ; these matters are 

 naturally, however, regulated to a large extent by the fashion current at the moment. A 

 single stone is sometimes set by itself in an article of jewellery ; when this is the case the 

 stone should be of large size and as perfect a specimen of its kind as possible. Usually, 

 however, the effect of such a stone would be enhanced by a border of small stones of another 

 kind ; thus a large and fine opal is often surrounded by a border of small diamonds, the 

 opacity and opalescent lustre of the one forming a pleasing contrast with the transparency 

 and adamantine lustre of the other. This kind of setting is known as carmoizing. Both 

 for decorative work and for personal ornament different kinds of stones are associated in 

 elegant groups, representing butterflies, flowers, and other objects; here again practice, 

 discrimination and taste are required in order to produce effects of contrast worthy of 

 the beauty of the individual stones. 



Gold and silver are the only metals used as the material for the setting of valuable 

 stones. In cheap jewellery some substitute for these metals, such, for example, as gilded 

 brass, is employed. The beauty of some stones is best displayed in a setting of silver, as is 

 the case with diamond ; while gold is a more effective background for rubies and other 

 stones. The girdle, when present, is the portion of a cut stone which is held by the 

 metal setting ; when there is no girdle, as in rosettes, the stone is fixe<l by the lower 

 margin ; other forms of cut stones are fixed in a variety of ways. 



In the kind of setting described as an open (a jour) setting, the metal is in contact with 

 the stone at a few points only along the margin, so that the stone is exposed to view on all 

 sides, it being possible to view an object through it. In another method of setting, the 

 stone is fitted into a metal receptacle of the same size and shape as itself, so that it can be 

 seen only from the front ; the back and margin of the stone being concealed by the metal. 

 With this kind of setting, which is described as a closed setting, it is impossible to look 

 through the stone, but sometimes the bottom of the metal receptacle is hinged so that it 

 may be opened and closed, and the back of the stone exposed to view, if desired. 



In the open sietting (A jour) the stone is surrounded by a ring of metal from 

 which several small metal pins or claws project. These are slightly cleft at their extremities, 

 so that each somewhat resembles a pair of small pincers, which grasp the stone at the 

 girdle or margin and hold it, as it were, suspended. This kind of setting is specially 

 adapted to transparent, colourless stones and to coloured stones of flawless quality whose 

 natural perfections require no improvement. 



The mounter of gems must be guided in the choice of a setting for a given stone by 

 the form in which it is cut. For stones such as brilliants with an upper and a lower portion, 

 the open setting is employed, the broad table of the stone being, of course, placed towards 



