Antique Basket Cultured Akoya Pearl Drop Earrings | 5.5mm | Petra Star

At the heart of these earrings are a pair of antique basket settings — the kind of intricate, hand-pierced work that jewelers have not made the same way in decades. Each basket is a small architectural marvel: open metalwork designed not only to secure the pearl but to frame it, to let light approach from every angle. Into each sits a fully drilled 5.5mm cultured Akoya pearl.

We completed these earrings with hand-forged 14k yellow gold ear wires — simple, substantial, made in our Mystic workshop to carry the weight of the antique settings without competing with them. At just under an inch of drop and 1.8 grams total, they sit close to the lobe: present without being precious about it.