A common question we get asked by many women is what makes one piece of jewellery ‘luxury’ when another one is considered a lower quality?
It’s an understandable concern for women when making a jewellery purchase, particularly when looking at luxury brands, and we have therefore produced a very quick guide to help you better understand the world of luxury jewellery. We’ve split our guide into 5 simple sections.
1. What is it made of?
Nearly all luxury jewellery is made of platinum, gold or silver. These precious metals can come in different levels of ‘fineness’ which just means how pure the metal is.
Gold fineness is measured in ‘carats’: 24k is pure (100%) gold, 18k is 75% and 14k is 50%.
Silver pureness is measured as a number: 925 silver (also known as sterling) means it is 92.5% silver. 950 (Britannic) silver is 95%.
You can check the type of metal and fineness on any piece of jewellery by looking at its hallmark - a tiny stamp near the designer’s name which legally confirms what the piece is made of.
There is nothing wrong with not having 100% pure precious metal- in fact, hardly any jewellery is ever made of pure precious metal as it would be too soft to use.
2. Does it have plating?
When done properly, plating has many advantages to luxury jewellery:
- When silver is plated by a metal that doesn’t tarnish, like gold or rhodium, the jewellery will not dull.
- Rhodium is often used over white gold as well, as it has a much brighter white colour to it.
- Plating often allows for a beautiful, smooth finish too.
When looking at jewellery, you will need to ask about the plating. If the jewellery is described as gold vermeil, this means it is silver jewellery plated in gold to a high standard- the gold must be at least 3 microns thick and 10 carats and the silver must be 925.
Check the plating thickness too- the thicker the plating, the longer it will last before it begins to wear. In our experience, 3 microns is enough to last many years.
True luxury pieces will have even plating across the whole piece- look closely at corners, niches and complex areas of the piece and check that the colour and surface is even. If it is, it has been plated well and is a quality piece of jewellery.
3. Stone settings
Look very carefully at how stones are set - this is one area that luxury, designer jewellery really stands out in. Stones are set in many different ways, so we’ve made a quick checklist of things to look for depending on the setting type.
Claw setting
- Check the stone doesn’t wobble
- Check the claws are mounted evenly around the stone, so they are equal distances from each other
- Hold the piece to see the claws underneath the stone- do they run along its edge neatly? If not it will come loose more easily
- Look at the tops of the claws edge on. They should be of uniform thickness and not too thin at the points
- Make sure the tops of the claws come far enough up the stone to hold it securely
Pave setting (when there are lots of small stones mounted together)
- Check very closely to make sure all the small stones are secured from 4 sides
- Pave is made by small ‘drops’ of metal covering over the edges of each stone. Make sure they cover enough of the stone to keep it secure
- Look edge on - the stones should be set almost flush with the surface of the jewellery or they will easily fall out
Bezel setting (this is when a stone is mounted by metal all around its edge)
- Look closely along the edge of the stone- there should be no gaps or ‘wobbles’ with the metal
- The metal edge should come smoothly over the top of the stone and enough to hold it securely
4. Surface and polish
This is another area to look closely at as it makes a big difference to the overall look of the piece. Luxury jewellery brands such as Lolo & Galago use a two stage polish, whereby an initial polish of the surface is followed by a finer hand polish. Looking closely at a piece under a bright light, if you move it around in your hand you can see if the surface has any imperfections- slight dents, variations of depth or any texture to it. A well polished piece should be perfectly smooth and almost radiate with light.
Following the above may be simple ways of checking, but the work and quality of finishing that happens behind the scenes is anything but simple. It’s something we hope you’ll notice with all our collections.
