Antique Jewelry Information

Diamonds are forever — but not all diamonds are equal. In today’s market, the choice often comes down to two: the sleek promise of a lab-grown diamond, or the storied brilliance of a vintage stone. Both shimmer with ethics, both boast sustainability claims, but they are not the same.

If you’re torn between the romance of the old and the appeal of the new, here’s what you need to know.

Vintage jewelry is not just adornment — it’s survival. Gold that has seen centuries, turquoise that has outlived empires, diamonds that carry light from another era. To keep these treasures alive, care is everything. But care doesn’t always mean polish and scrubbing. Sometimes it means restraint, knowing when to leave well enough alone.

This is your room-by-room guide to caring for antique metals and stones — simple rituals that keep your heirlooms radiant, without erasing the character that time has given them.

Jewelry has always spoken in symbols. To the casual eye, a pendant is just an ornament, a ring a glittering trinket. But to those who know, every curve and carving carries a message. Motifs were once the hidden vocabulary of devotion, power, and remembrance — a secret language etched in gold and set in stone.

Today, those same symbols still whisper their meanings, ready to be reinterpreted for modern lives. Let’s decode three of the most enduring motifs — buckles, scarabs, and serpents — and see what they meant then, and what they can mean now.

From the Great Pyramids of Giza to the treasures of Tutankhamun, there has always been a fascination with the mystical land that is Egypt. The ancient Egyptians were the first civilization to develop an extensive jewelry industry. Jewelry was an essential part of Ancient Egyptian culture. It was used as currency, to identify the wearer's status and religious beliefs, and was made from precious metals and stones. Their jewelry was worn for religious and political reasons as well as for personal adornment.    Egyptian Revival jewelry was inspired by the jewelry and architecture of ancient Egypt. The designs were created...

  TURQUOISE HISTORY AND MYTHOLOGY The Turquoise stone has been used for longer, and across more cultures than almost any other gemstone. It was first used by the Ancient Egyptians, who began mining the stone in 3200 B.C. The name turquoise is derived from the French ‘pierre turquoise’, meaning ‘Turkish stone.’ Although the stones were first mined in central Asia, they reached Europe via the bazaars of Turkey. Across cultures, turquoise has been fashioned into a variety of objects from weapons to amulets. The Navajos used turquoise to bring much needed rain by throwing a stone into a river while...