Pure Pearls Glossary
Bezel Setting
A metal rim wrapped around the edge of a stone or pearl to hold it. The most protective setting there is.
The bezel encircles the stone and is burnished down over its edge, so no prongs stick out and nothing can catch.
For soft gems such as pearl, coral and opal, this protection matters more than the extra sparkle a prong setting allows.
A half bezel protects only part of the perimeter, trading some protection for a view of the stone's sides.
When you are buying
For a pearl ring worn regularly, a bezel or half bezel is a materially better choice than prongs. Pearls chip at the edges, and that is exactly where a bezel covers.
Read next
Finger Ring
A ring set with a pearl, usually a single dome-backed or button pearl in a protective setting.
Half-Drilled
A pearl drilled only partway through, so it can be cemented onto a post. How pearls are mounted in studs and rings.
Kundan
A setting technique where highly refined gold foil is pressed around stones to hold them, with no prongs or claws.
Mabe Pearl
A half-dome pearl grown against the inside of the shell rather than free in the tissue. Flat-backed, so it suits rings and pendants.
Not sure what you are being sold?
Paste any pearl description — another shop’s listing, a message from a jeweller, an old certificate — and we will break it down term by term.