Antique Jewellery Sets
Mostly single pieces of gem-set antique jewellery, rings above all, where "set" describes how the stones are held rather than a matching suite, alongside a smaller run of true parures and dress sets.
Antique Jewellery Sets
The word set is doing two jobs in this heading. In the great bulk of titles it means stone set, as in stones mounted in metal, and only in a minority does it mean a matching suite. That is why rings, at 462 of 761 titles, outnumber every actual set in the archive on Sellingantiques.
The piece you're most likely to meet is a gem-set ring in gold. Diamonds are named in 468 titles and gold in 469, with 18ct the usual fineness and 9ct behind it, and platinum named in 150. Within the rings, solitaires, clusters, engagement rings, trilogies and eternity bands recur, along with gypsy settings sunk flush into heavy bands and engraved star settings. Ring size is quoted in 94 titles.
Around it sit four other groups. Art Deco work, platinum-set diamonds often carried on an 18ct gold shank, accounts for roughly a fifth. Victorian and Edwardian brooches, pendants, lockets and bar brooches make up rather less, with seed pearl and turquoise settings running through them. Earrings and small gem-set studs and drops in 9ct and 14ct form about a tenth.
The true matching sets are the small, distinct minority: necklace-and-bracelet pairs, earring-and-brooch demi-parures, occasional full parures, cufflink-and-stud dress sets and cased sets of six silver buttons. Cased suites of this kind became a settled European fashion from the later 18th and 19th centuries, sold so the pieces could be worn together for formal dress. Dealer dating across the category runs 1800 to 1960, with the 1930s the busiest decade and a good deal of the older material bracketed as Victorian, Edwardian or simply 19th century rather than pinned to a year.
Where The Range Splits
Stone weight does most of the work. Carat weight is stated in 75 titles, and the upper reaches of the archive quote figures in whole carats and more: a 10.42ct Colombian emerald solitaire, an 11.79ct diamond and 8.14ct sapphire platinum necklace, a 26.52ct garnet suite, a 132ct amethyst choker with earrings dated 1800. At the other end a weight is given as a fraction of a carat, or not given at all.
Metal sorts the rest. Platinum and 18ct cluster in the higher-value listings, while 9ct and silver dominate the modest end, including the paste pieces and the cased button sets. Fifteen-carat gold, a British fineness dropped in 1932, appears in 35 titles and marks out the Victorian and Edwardian material. Gems follow the same pattern: sapphire, ruby and amethyst run unqualified through the middle, and named origins such as Burmese sapphire, Ceylon sapphire or Colombian emerald, or the words unheated and natural, turn up on the highest-priced listings.
Two other things lift a listing. A complete matching suite sits well above a single stone-set brooch or pendant of similar make. And a title that records an assay office and a year, Chester 1915, Birmingham 1897, London 1965, sits above one that says only stamped or tests as.
Antique Jewellery Sets Retail Price Guide 2026
Typical UK retail prices for jewellery sets, calculated from the Sellingantiques database of over a million retail prices indexed since 2003. This retail price guide relies exclusively on Sellingantiques data; no external sources or auction records are used, so the figures do not describe the wider market.
The 1930s is the period label used most on Sellingantiques for jewellery sets, with the 1920s next and the 1960s third.
The Antique Jewellery Sets Glossary
- Set (as in stone set)
- In the titles here it usually means the stones are mounted in the metal, not that the piece belongs to a suite. Worth holding in mind when a heading says set and shows one ring.
- Solitaire
- A single principal stone, named in 77 titles. Most often a diamond, in gold or platinum.
- Cluster
- A central stone ringed by smaller ones, in 61 titles, often described as daisy or coronet.
- Gypsy setting
- Stones sunk flush into a heavy band, so the surface stays smooth. Named in 27 titles.
- Star setting
- An engraved star radiating around a flush-set stone, sometimes called celestial. In 23 titles.
- Parure and demi-parure
- A full matching suite; the demi-parure is the shorter two- or three-piece version, and was the commoner and cheaper thing to buy.
Antique Jewellery Sets: Frequently Asked Questions
Does a set mean more than one piece?
Not usually. Across 761 listings the word set most often means stone set, describing how the gems are held in the metal.
Rings alone account for 462 titles, more than every genuine matching suite in the archive put together.
What kinds of true sets turn up?
Necklace-and-bracelet pairs, earring-and-brooch demi-parures, cufflink-and-stud dress sets and cased sets of six small silver buttons, some hallmarked Chester 1900 and 1901.
Full parures appear only occasionally: a turquoise-and-pearl earrings, pendant and necklace parure, an Arts and Crafts turquoise matrix parure of earrings, ring and necklace, and a green paste rivière necklace with matching pendant and earrings.
Which periods are best represented?
Dealer dating runs from 1800 to 1960, with 489 listings carrying a clean year. The 1930s is the busiest single decade, followed by the 1920s and 1960s.
After that the dating shifts to reign names, Victorian and Edwardian, then the 1950s, 1940s, 1900s and 1910s. Nineteen listings are dated only as 19th century.
How common is Art Deco jewellery in this category?
Roughly a fifth of the category. Art Deco is named in 158 titles and platinum in 150, and the two travel together.
A typical heading reads along the lines of Art Deco platinum-set diamonds on an 18ct gold ring.
Are makers' names usually given?
Rarely. This is a category described by metal, stone, setting and period rather than by workshop.
What titles do record instead is assay detail: an office and a year, such as Chester 1915, Birmingham 1897 or London 1965.
What gold finenesses appear in the titles?
Eighteen carat leads, in 276 titles, with 9ct in 127. Platinum is named in 150.
Fifteen carat, a British fineness abandoned in 1932, appears in 35 titles and points to the Victorian and Edwardian end. Twenty-two carat appears once, and one title records a Continental 333/8ct filigree gold.