Antique jewelry glossary

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Grain setting

A style of setting for securing a gemstone in a finger ring by making small shavings in the shank at intervals around the stone and bending them so that each forms a bead against the stone to hold it in place.

Sometimes two such beads are made adjacent to each other and a third behind them to form a triangular ornament. Such a setting is used for expensive jewelry. It is sometimes called 'thread and grain setting'.

From: An Illustrated Dictionary of Jewelry, autor: Harold Newman, publishers: Thames and Hudson