Nothing stands up off her. Garnets and seed pearls are sunk into the gold itself, each one in a lozenge with rays cut around it, and a chased fan pattern runs over both shoulders.

Star setting was the Victorian answer to a ring meant never to come off. No claws, no rim standing proud, nothing to catch on a glove or a sleeve. It is why these bands turn up a century later with their stones still in them, and why the edge of her is hard to find once she is on.