Style Guides

The Different Types of Gold: Colour, Carat and Construction Explained

"Types of gold" has three different answers and most guides only give you one. It can mean the color, the purity, or how the gold is attached to the thing you're buying. Three colors, six karat gra...

How to Clean Sterling Silver Without Polishing It Away

Every time you polish silver, a little of the silver leaves with the tarnish. There is one method that does the opposite: it converts the tarnish back into silver and puts it on the piece. Here is ...

How to Clean Copper Jewellery: Tarnish, Patina and Green Skin

The lemon and salt trick works, and that is exactly the problem. It cannot tell the difference between the tarnish you want gone and the patina you paid for. Copper goes through four states, two of...

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 ...