Dual Tone Hasli Necklace Set with Green Stones and Elephant

Two platings on one piece, masked off from one another so each reads separately — that is what makes a dual-tone hasli worth looking at twice. The band here is oxidised silver, engraved end to end with a fine scrolling vine, and laid over it at intervals are gold-tone elements: a small elephant walking along the lower curve, a pair of raised floral plaques, and the collars that break the band into sections.

The colour comes from green Monalisa stones, set in groups of four to make flower heads at three points along the band, with a single rectangular black stone placed off-centre near the front. That asymmetry is deliberate and it is the detail that stops the piece looking machine-made: the eye finds the black stone, then reads outward to the greens, rather than taking in a symmetrical row all at once.

Monalisa is a glass stone with a soft internal glow rather than the hard sparkle of cut zirconia. Against oxidised silver it reads as deep and slightly cloudy, which is exactly why it is used in this style of jewellery — a brilliant-cut stone would look wrong on a darkened band, while Monalisa sits into it.

The band is rigid and fastens with a black braided cord at the back, finished with an engraved silver cap. The cord slides, so the necklace adjusts over a wide range: high at the throat as a choker, or dropped an inch or two to sit on the collarbone. Matching stud earrings come with the set — round, with a gold-tone ground, a green four-petal flower at the centre and a fine beaded silver rim, so they repeat the necklace's two tones and its flower motif at lobe scale.

The elephant is worth a word. It is one of the oldest motifs in Indian ornament, standing for good fortune and for rain, and it turns up constantly in temple and tribal work. Here it is small enough to be a detail rather than a theme, which is the right scale for it — a large elephant on a collar becomes costume, while one walking quietly along a band of scrollwork just looks like the piece was made with some care.

Wear it over a plain kurta or a blouse with a simple neckline. Dual-tone goes with both gold and silver elsewhere on the body, which makes it unusually easy to pair, and the green reads well against mustard, rust, cream and black.

The cord is worth understanding before you buy, because it changes how the piece behaves. A metal clasp fixes a necklace at one length; a sliding cord does not, so the same collar can be worn tight at the throat on one day and two inches lower on another, and it will fit over a high-necked blouse as easily as a bare neckline. The trade-off is that a cord is a textile and eventually frays, usually where it passes through the cap. It is a cheap and simple thing for a jeweller to replace when it does, and worth doing rather than retiring the piece.

Supplier stock on this one is very limited, so Keyura lists it for WhatsApp enquiry rather than direct checkout — send us a message and we will confirm availability before you commit to anything.

About the Dual-Tone Finish

Dual-tone means two platings on one piece — a bright silver tone and a warm gold tone, applied to different parts of the same design so each section reads separately. It is harder than a single finish because the two have to be masked off from one another, and it is why these pieces show their detail so clearly: the eye separates the gold elements from the silver ones before it has read a single stone. The base metal underneath is brass, so this is plating rather than solid gold or silver.

Care

Put this on after perfume, hairspray and hand cream, and take it off before washing, swimming or sleeping. Wipe with a dry soft cloth and use a dry soft brush around the stone settings and between any pearls, where a cloth cannot reach. Store it in a zip-lock pouch — which is what the supplier themselves advise, and the single most effective thing for a plated piece, because it keeps humid air off the metal. Never use silver polish, dip cleaners or an ultrasonic cleaner.