Journal
The Journal
Field notes from inside the antique and estate jewelry trade — what to look for, what to walk away from.
How to Date an Antique Ring Without a Hallmark
Most antique rings carry no usable hallmark. Dating them is a matter of reading construction: the cut of the stones, how the...
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Why Antique Diamonds Sparkle Differently: Fire, Brilliance and the Light They Were Cut For
Antique and modern diamonds do not just look different — they are solving different optical problems, for different light. Understanding fire, brilliance...
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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...
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Buying Antique Jewelry Online Without Getting Burned
Almost all antique jewelry now sells online, where you cannot hold the piece or see it in daylight. The photographs to demand,...
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Retro Jewelry of the 1940s: Big Gold, Bold Colour, Wartime Rules
When platinum was requisitioned for the war effort, jewelers turned to gold and made it loud. Retro jewelry is the most undervalued...
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Victorian Mourning Jewelry: Jet, Hair, and Memory
For forty years the Victorians wore their grief in public, and built an entire industry to do it. How to identify jet...
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Insuring Antique Jewelry: Appraisals, Riders, and Real Numbers
Your home insurance almost certainly does not cover the ring properly. What kind of appraisal you need, how a scheduled rider differs...
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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...
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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...
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