Guides
Gemstones and cuts in vintage jewelry
Old cuts were made by hand for candlelight, not for a spotlight. Understanding that changes how you look at every antique stone.
Gemstone encyclopedia
Every stone we set, explained
Twenty four stones, each with its color range, Mohs hardness, honest care advice and the part it plays in antique and vintage jewelry. If you are shopping by month instead, start with the birthstone guide.
Amethyst
Mohs 7 · Everyday with care
Aquamarine
Mohs 7.5 to 8 · Everyday with care
Carnelian
Mohs 6.5 to 7 · Everyday with care
Chrysoberyl
Mohs 8.5 · Hard wearing
Citrine
Mohs 7 · Everyday with care
Coral
Mohs 3 to 4 · Handle gently
Diamond
Mohs 10 · Hard wearing
Emerald
Mohs 7.5 to 8 · Handle gently
Garnet
Mohs 6.5 to 7.5 · Everyday with care
Jade
Mohs 6 to 7 for jadeite, 6 to 6.5 for nephrite · Everyday with care
Moonstone
Mohs 6 to 6.5 · Handle gently
Onyx
Mohs 6.5 to 7 · Everyday with care
Opal
Mohs 5.5 to 6.5 · Handle gently
Pearl
Mohs 2.5 to 4.5 · Handle gently
Peridot
Mohs 6.5 to 7 · Everyday with care
Rock Crystal
Mohs 7 · Everyday with care
Ruby
Mohs 9 · Hard wearing
Sapphire
Mohs 9 · Hard wearing
Smoky Quartz
Mohs 7 · Everyday with care
Spinel
Mohs 8 · Hard wearing
Tanzanite
Mohs 6 to 7 · Handle gently
Topaz
Mohs 8 · Everyday with care
Tourmaline
Mohs 7 to 7.5 · Everyday with care
Turquoise
Mohs 5 to 6 · Handle gently
Old European cut vs modern brilliant
Why an antique diamond flashes color where a modern one flashes white.
8 min read
Diamonds in vintage jewelry
Rose cuts, old mines, transitionals, and how to judge a stone with no certificate.
9 min read
Colored stones: sapphire, emerald, ruby and garnet
Which colored stones turn up in which era, and what treatment means for value.
8 min read
Pearls in vintage jewelry
Natural, cultured or imitation, and why the difference is worth thousands.
8 min read
Rose cut diamonds explained
A flat base, a domed crown of triangular facets and a soft, candlelit glow.
8 min read
Gemstone treatments explained
Heat, oil, fracture filling, diffusion and dye: which are routine, which are serious, and how each is spotted.
9 min read
Buying sapphire in antique jewelry
Corundum in every color except red, and hard enough to wear every day.
5 min read
Emerald, and what a century of oil does to it
The most beautiful and the most fragile of the big four.
5 min read
Ruby: natural, synthetic and everything in between
Red corundum, and the reason synthetic stones exist at all.
5 min read
Living with opal
Water, silica and the play of color that defined Art Nouveau.
5 min read
Garnet is a family, not a stone
A whole family of stones, and the best value in antique jewelry.
5 min read
Onyx, black chalcedony and the mourning trade
The graphic black of Art Deco and the discretion of Victorian mourning.
5 min read
Pearls: natural, cultured, and how to tell
Natural, cultured and imitation, and how to tell which you have.
5 min read
Aquamarine, and the case for a big stone
Emerald's clean-living cousin: big, bright and surprisingly affordable.
5 min read
Amethyst, from royal stone to Victorian staple
Once as costly as ruby, now the most generous purple in the case.
5 min read
Turquoise, stabilized and otherwise
Porous, personal, and a stone that changes with the person wearing it.
5 min read
Coral: what it is and what you can bring home
An organic material with real history and real regulation.
5 min read
Old mine cut diamonds explained
A cushion-shaped, candlelit ancestor of the round brilliant, cut mostly by eye.
8 min read
Old European cut diamonds explained
Rounder than an old mine cut, still cut for candlelight and gaslight, not a spotlight.
8 min read
Transitional cut diamonds explained
Not quite antique, not quite modern, a diamond caught between two eras of cutting.
7 min read
Single cut diamonds explained
Eight facets around the crown, used for the smallest accent stones in old and new jewelry alike.
6 min read
Modern brilliant cut diamonds explained
The round diamond cut to a formula, built for maximum sparkle under electric light.
7 min read
Antique diamond cuts compared
Rose cut, old mine, old European, transitional and modern brilliant, side by side.
9 min read
Topaz, and the citrine confusion
A hard, affordable stone that spans a colorless imperial glow to London blue.
7 min read
Peridot: one color, worn well
The one gemstone that only ever comes in one color family, and wears it well.
6 min read
Citrine, and what heat does to amethyst
Sunny, affordable quartz that Retro jewelers turned into cocktail-ring centerpieces.
6 min read
Moonstone and the trick of adularescence
The feldspar that seems to hold its own light, and defined Art Nouveau jewelry.
6 min read
Lapis lazuli is a rock, not a mineral
A rock, not a mineral, and one of the oldest blues in jewelry.
6 min read
Written in the workshop
Everything here is written by the people who buy and restore these pieces
No stock copy and no invented history: if a fact is not on the piece or in its paperwork, we say so.
From the reading to the piece
