Guides
Learn to read a piece the way a jeweler does
We have been buying, restoring and selling European antique jewelry since 1973. These guides are what we tell our own customers across the counter: how to place a piece in its era, how to read a hallmark that is not a karat number, and what to check before you spend real money on something made a century ago.
Start here
The vintage engagement ring buying guide
Everything we would want a friend to know before spending several thousand dollars on a ring made a century ago.
11 min read
Understanding European gold hallmarks
American gold says 14K. European gold shows you a lion, an eagle's head or a tiny crowned figure. Here is how to read them.
10 min read
Art Deco jewelry: a complete guide
1920 to 1935, when jewelry stopped imitating flowers and started imitating architecture.
9 min read
How to buy vintage jewelry online safely
A checklist for spending real money on a piece you cannot hold, from a seller on another continent.
9 min read
Sizing and fit
European pieces arrive in European sizes. Our size guide converts them: an EU to US ring size chart, how to measure at home, which vintage rings can be resized, necklace lengths and bracelet sizing. Read the full size guide.
Care and warranty
How to clean and store vintage, antique and gold jewelry, the stones that must never see an ultrasonic cleaner, and exactly what our one year warranty covers. Read the care and warranty guide.
Gemstone encyclopedia
Twenty four stones, from diamond and sapphire to opal, coral and tanzanite: color, Mohs hardness, honest care advice and how each one turns up in antique and vintage jewelry. Browse the gemstone directory.
Birthstone jewelry
A gift as personal as she is: all twelve months, what each stone means, the antique pieces we have with it and how to have a birthstone ring made. Browse birthstones by month.
Houses and makers
Histories of the houses whose work passes through our workshop, with the reference points we use when dating a signed piece. Read the designer and maker histories.
Eras
Every antique piece belongs to a moment. Learn to place a ring or a brooch in its era by its metal, its stones and the way it was made.
Metals & materials
Karat, color and hallmark. What European metal standards mean for an American buyer, and how they change the way a piece wears.
Gemstones & cuts
Old cuts were made by hand for candlelight, not for a spotlight. Understanding that changes how you look at every antique stone.
- Old European cut vs modern brilliant
- Diamonds in vintage jewelry
- Colored stones: sapphire, emerald, ruby and garnet
- Pearls in vintage jewelry
- Rose cut diamonds explained
- Gemstone treatments explained
- Buying sapphire in antique jewelry
- Emerald, and what a century of oil does to it
- Ruby: natural, synthetic and everything in between
- Living with opal
- Garnet is a family, not a stone
- Onyx, black chalcedony and the mourning trade
- Pearls: natural, cultured, and how to tell
- Aquamarine, and the case for a big stone
- Amethyst, from royal stone to Victorian staple
- Turquoise, stabilized and otherwise
- Coral: what it is and what you can bring home
- Old mine cut diamonds explained
- Old European cut diamonds explained
- Transitional cut diamonds explained
- Single cut diamonds explained
- Modern brilliant cut diamonds explained
- Antique diamond cuts compared
- Topaz, and the citrine confusion
- Peridot: one color, worn well
- Citrine, and what heat does to amethyst
- Moonstone and the trick of adularescence
- Lapis lazuli is a rock, not a mineral
Buying & value
Practical guides for buyers: what drives value, what to check before you pay, and how to buy safely from a European seller.
- The vintage engagement ring buying guide
- How to buy vintage jewelry online safely
- How much is my vintage ring worth?
- Vintage vs antique vs estate vs retro: what's the difference?
- Jewelry appraisal and insurance in the US
- What makes vintage jewelry valuable
- Understanding condition grades in vintage jewelry
- How we price our pieces
- Insuring your vintage jewelry
- Why a vintage engagement ring: unique, sustainable, and built to last
- Buying an engagement ring online safely
Authenticity & care
How to tell a period piece from a reproduction, how to read maker's marks, and how to look after a piece that has already survived a century.
- How to tell if vintage jewelry is real
- Reading maker's marks and hallmarks
- How to care for your vintage jewelry
- How to read French gold and silver hallmarks
- How to read British gold and silver hallmarks
- How to read Dutch gold and silver hallmarks
- How Cartier marks its jewelry, and how we verify it
- How Tiffany & Co marks its jewelry, and how we verify it
- How to date a vintage ring
- How to clean gold jewelry safely
- How to clean silver jewelry without ruining the patina
- Everyday wear and what actually damages jewelry
How-to & tools
Practical help before you buy: measure your ring size at home, convert a European size to a US size, and choose a piece as a gift.
- How to measure your ring size
- Ring size chart (US, EU and UK)
- Vintage jewelry gift guide
- How to clean vintage jewelry at home
- How to store and travel with vintage jewelry
- When to repolish vintage jewelry, and why it can lower value
- Caring for pearls, opals and other soft stones
- Resizing vintage rings, what is and is not possible
Glossary
The visual language of antique jewelry, plus the terms you will meet in any description we write.
Types & anatomy
The trade words for the shapes you are picturing: ring types, setting types, chain links, earring types and the lengths a necklace is sold in.
Symbolism & meaning
Serpents, hearts, bows, flowers and clasped hands. Nineteenth century jewelry was a language, and most of it can still be read.
- Snake and serpent jewelry: meaning and history
- Heart jewelry: meaning and history
- Bow jewelry: meaning and history
- Flower jewelry and the language of flowers
- Hands in jewelry: fede, claddagh and mizpah
- Acrostic and regard jewelry explained
- Mourning and memorial jewelry explained
- Lockets and keepsake jewelry
- Birthstone meanings
What it's worth
Honest value guides: what actually drives the number on a ring, necklace, watch, brooch or pair of earrings, and why nobody can price a photograph.
History
Longer reads on where these objects come from: the engagement ring, and the hallmarking system that lets us date them.
Styling & how to wear
Stacking, layering and mixing metals, with the practical part nobody mentions: how to do it without wearing your antique settings out.
Compare & decide
Straight comparisons with the trade-offs left in: vintage against new and lab-grown, solitaire against halo and cluster, gold against platinum.
Questions a guide cannot answer?
Book a private video viewing and one of our jewelers will show you a piece in daylight and answer everything, live, in your own time zone.
Book a private video viewing