Pearl Edged Fan Ring with Centre Stone

This is the biggest ring in the range and the one that behaves most like a piece of occasion jewellery. The body is a wide disc pleated into radiating ribs that fan outward from the centre like a hand fan opened flat, so light runs round it in a wheel as the hand turns. A band of scrolled openwork sits above the fan, and at the middle a raised boss ringed with metal grains holds a single coloured stone.

What you are looking at

Around the entire rim runs a double row of small white pearls, wired on so they sit slightly loose and move. That border is what changes the character of the piece: without it this would be a handsome oxidised disc, and with it the ring reads as bridal. The soft matt pearls against the hard dark metal is the oldest contrast in Indian jewellery, and it is still the most effective.

Materials used

The stones are glass and cubic zirconia rather than gemstones, hand-set into closed metal bezels. That is the traditional setting for Indian costume jewellery and it does two useful things at once: a closed back holds the stone against the knocks a ring takes, and the dark oxidised rim around it keeps the colour reading clearly instead of washing out against the metal.

Colours and availability

Four colourways are stocked, and the only thing that changes between them is the centre stone: Baby Pink, Green, White and Yellow. The fan, the scrollwork and the pearl border are identical on all four, so pick whichever picks up a colour in the outfit.

The piece is brass, plated and then oxidised — chemically darkened and polished back, so the blackening stays in the recesses while the raised surfaces come up bright. That contrast is the whole point of the finish: it is what makes shallow carving read as deep carving, and it is why an oxidised ring at this price can look like worked silver from across a table.

Fit

This ring is adjustable. The band is not a closed circle — it is a tapered strip coiled so the two ends overlap behind the finger, and you open or close it by a few millimetres with your fingers. In practice that covers most adult sizes, roughly a UK J to a UK S, which is why almost all Indian fashion rings are made this way: nobody has to know their ring size, and the same ring still fits when knuckles swell in summer.

Adjust it off the finger, not on it, and move it gradually. Opening and closing the same band repeatedly is what eventually tires the metal, so set it once to your finger and leave it there.

Styling it

Be realistic about the size. This covers the width of the finger and stands proud of it, and the pearl border is the part that catches on things. It is a ring for a wedding, a reception, a festival or a photograph, not one to wear to work or to drive in.

Looking after it

One honest caution about pearls on wire: they are the part of this ring most likely to need attention eventually. Keep it dry, store it where the border is not crushed, and do not pull on individual pearls to adjust the band.

Rings take more punishment than any other piece of jewellery because hands do the work. The things that actually shorten a plated ring's life are water, soap, hand sanitiser, perfume and cooking oil, in roughly that order. The habit worth building is simple: the ring goes on last when you are dressing and comes off first when you are washing up, bathing, cooking or swimming.

Clean it with a dry soft cloth only. Never use a silver dip or a polish — a dip strips an oxidised finish completely and will take gold plating with it, and a polish wears plating thin at exactly the high points you want to keep bright. Store it dry and on its own, because rings scratch each other in a shared box.