Style Guides

How to Clean Metal Jewellery: Tarnish, Oxidation and That Metallic Smell

The metallic smell on a piece of jewellery is not coming from the metal. It is a compound made out of the oils on your own skin, with the metal acting as the catalyst. That one fact changes how you...

How to Clean a Gold Chain at Home Without Damaging It

Everything you need to clean a gold chain properly is already in your kitchen. The method takes fifteen minutes, most of which is waiting. Here's how to do it, how to clean the clasp that collects ...

The Most Expensive Jewellery Ever Sold

What does the most expensive jewellery in the world actually cost, and what are those famous rapper chains really worth? One of those questions has a verifiable answer. The other doesn't.

How to Wear a Pocket Watch (Five Ways That Work)

A pocket watch is worn on a chain, anchored at one end, with the watch in a pocket. Here are the five arrangements that work, including the one for jeans, and how to read the hallmarks on an inheri...

Men's Jewellery Trends: What Lasts and What Doesn't

In 2021 we called six men's jewellery trends. Four held, one faded, one changed shape entirely. Here's what actually lasted, and the pattern that explains why.    

How Much Is a Gold Ingot (Bar) Worth?

A gold ingot is worth its weight in troy ounces times the gold price times its purity. Here's how to do the sum, why gold uses its own ounce, and why you'll never get the spot price.

Jewellery or Jewelry: How to Spell It in Britain

In Britain it's jewellery, with two Ls. Here's why the American spelling drops one, which spelling every English-speaking country uses, how to pronounce it, and the third version that genuinely is ...

Symbols Stamped on Jewellery: What Every Mark Means

The marks stamped inside a ring are the only part of a piece that has to tell the truth. Here's what every number and letter means, how to read a full British hallmark, and what to do when there's ...

Silver or Gold Jewellery: How to Choose (And Why You Might Not Have To)

Silver or gold is the wrong question. Here's what actually decides which suits you, what skin tone really tells you, and why mixing the two is now the most deliberate thing you can wear.

What Is White Gold? (And Why It Isn't Actually White)

White gold isn't white. It's yellow gold alloyed pale and then coated in rhodium, and that one fact explains the price, the carat trade-off, and why it turns faintly yellow after a few years.