Fine Chain Set with Pearl Drop Pendant

A necklace set in gold-tone brass, set with cubic zirconia. It sits just below the collarbone, which is the easiest necklace length to wear. Photographed in White.

What you are looking at

Small pearls finish the lower edge. Pearls do something no faceted stone can — they give back a soft, diffused light, which calms a design that would otherwise be all sparkle.

Materials used

American Diamond is the Indian trade name for cubic zirconia, a crystal grown in a furnace rather than dug out of the ground. It takes a proper facet, holds a polish, and throws a little more coloured fire than diamond because it bends light harder. At this price it is the only stone that will give a design real light.

Shades and stock

One colourway is stocked, in White — the shade the design was drawn for and the one in the photographs.

The base is brass under a premium gold polish. Brass is the right base for costume jewellery — heavy enough to feel like something, soft enough to be worked, and it does not go brittle with age.

Styling it

Wear it with the neckline bare — a boat neck, a deep round neck, or a blouse cut away at the throat. A necklace at this weight competes with a dupatta pulled across the chest, so pin the dupatta back off the shoulder.

What you are buying at this price is design rather than material, and that is a reasonable thing to buy. The shapes here come out of a jewellery tradition several centuries old, and they work at a tenth of the weight and a hundredth of the cost of the gold versions.

How to care for it

Plating is a surface, so it wears where it rubs. Perfume and sweat dull it fastest, so spray first and dress second, then wipe the piece with a soft dry cloth. A zip-lock pouch with the air squeezed out really is the best storage — it is what keeps oxygen off the metal.

How big it is

Buying this as a gift is straightforward, because nothing here needs a size. The fit is fixed or adjustable rather than measured, which removes the one thing that usually goes wrong with jewellery bought for somebody else.

Why glass rather than coloured CZ for the colour? Because glass wins on colour. Cubic zirconia can be doped to any shade, but the result is pale and watery at this price, where coloured glass gives the deep ruby and bottle green that Indian jewellery expects. The clear stones are CZ because CZ wins on light. Each material is used where it is better.

A note on what this is not: it is not hallmarked, it is not precious metal, and it carries no resale value. Keyura sells it as what it is — a well-made plated piece with good stones, priced accordingly, and described here without the word gold doing any work it has not earned.

Checkout on this piece runs through an enquiry rather than a cart. Colour stock moves quickly at this price, so we confirm the exact shade, the price and the delivery estimate with you first. All Keyura orders are prepaid. We do not offer cash on delivery.