Category: Metals and stones

Trinket File guides to metals and stones: hallmarks, fineness marks, settings, gemstone judging and what you can check yourself.

Model in a black hat and black top wearing a graphic necklace of black stones and pearls

Modern Pearl Jewelry: Styling Rules Worth Keeping

Pearls don't belong only to formal sets anymore. A strand works with a T-shirt, a baroque drop sits beside a plain gold hoop, and black or silver pearls look as modern as any polished metal. The visua

Gold rings set with coloured stones along the band

Prongs, Bezels, Channels and Pavé: Picking a Setting

Most people choose a setting by how much stone it shows. That's an incomplete way to choose. The setting is what holds a brittle stone inside a metal object that gets knocked against desks, faucets an

Pearls, Coral and Amber: Judging and Care

Pearls and other organic jewelry materials get graded in language borrowed from diamonds, which is where the confusion starts. A mineral stone is judged on color, clarity and cut and shrugs off most o

A ten-times jeweller's loupe on a plain surface

Judging a Stone: What You Can Check and What You Can't

The gem trade runs on the gap between how a stone looks and what it is. A colorless stone can be diamond, moissanite, cubic zirconia or glass, and the difference is invisible to the naked eye. A red o

A gold chain with its open clasp photographed in close up

Chains, Clasps and How Fastenings Fail

When a necklace disappears, people assume theft or some dramatic break. The usual ending is quieter. The chain turns up tucked inside a collar, every link intact, clasp still closed, nothing apparentl

The sterling hallmark and maker's mark stamped on a silver fob

Solid, Filled, Vermeil or Plated: Reading Jewelry Marks

A stamp on jewelry is a declaration, not a guarantee. It's still the most useful information you have, and the difference between a piece that survives daily wear and one that looks tired in a year is