The Journal · Topic
Antique & Vintage Engagement Rings
Everything we tell clients before they buy an antique engagement ring: cuts, settings, eras, budgets, resizing and the questions a dealer should answer.
Old European Cut Diamonds: What Actually Drives the Price
Old European cut diamonds do not price like modern rounds. How carat thresholds, spread, warm colour, recutting and the grading report really...
Read more
Designing a Ring Around an Inherited Diamond
Resetting an inherited stone is the most emotionally loaded work in jewelry, and the technical decisions get made badly when the conversation...
Read more
Antique Halo vs Modern Halo: Why They Age So Differently
Both surround a centre stone with smaller ones, and there the similarity ends. Antique surrounds are built from individually set stones with...
Read more
Three-Stone Rings: The History, the Marketing, and How to Choose One
The past, present and future story is 1990s advertising, not history. Three-stone rings are far older and far more interesting than that...
Read more
Old Mine Cut Diamonds: What Actually Drives the Price
Old mine cut diamonds do not price like modern stones, and the grading report that governs a modern diamond actively works against...
Read more
Antique Opals: Why the Victorians Loved Them, and How to Wear One
Opal is water and silica, soft enough to scratch on a doorframe, and the Victorians put it in everything. Where the bad...
Read more
Transitional Cut Diamonds: The Bridge Nobody Talks About
Between the old European cut and the modern brilliant sits a stone with no marketing behind it. Transitional cuts have antique character...
Read more
How to Spot a Reproduction Art Deco Ring
Art Deco is the most reproduced era in jewelry, and “Deco style” does a lot of quiet work in listings. Eight checks...
Read more
Emeralds in Antique Jewelry: Oil, Jardin, and Fair Expectations
Almost every emerald you will ever see has been oiled, and that is normal. What jardin means, why emeralds are brittle despite...
Read more