Made by hand in Frome, Somerset
Traditions, and the true version
Most of what gets repeated about jewellery is marketing that outlived the campaign. Here is where the customs actually come from — including the ones that turn out to be lovely and false.
Worn on the fourth finger of the left hand because the Romans believed a vein ran from it straight to the heart. There is no such vein — the anatomy is the same as every other finger. The custom survived the biology, which is quite a good argument for customs.
The diamond part is younger than most people think. Until a 1930s advertising campaign, coloured stones were at least as common, and a sapphire or a garnet is not a compromise on anything except marketing.
A circle with no join, no beginning and no end. Plain bands became the norm in Britain during the Second World War, when metal was rationed and ornament was unpatriotic — austerity turned into taste and never turned back.
Worn inside the engagement ring, closest to the heart, in most of Britain. In much of Europe it goes on the right hand. Both are correct; neither is a rule.
The oldest working jewellery there is. A signet was a tool — you pressed it into wax and it was your signature, which is why the engraving is reversed and why they were worn on the little finger of the hand you did not write with.
Still the piece people most often bring back to have re-cut for the next person in the family. The metal outlasts several sets of initials.
Stones set all the way round, given to mark something that has already lasted — a first child, a tenth anniversary. Full eternity rings cannot be resized, which is a genuinely important thing to know before buying one.
Half-eternity is the practical choice: the same look from above, resizable, and the plain half sits more comfortably against a wedding band.
The Victorians wore jet, and hair, and photographs in lockets, and it was ordinary rather than morbid. The modern version is usually a remodelled stone: something that belonged to someone, made wearable again.
This is the most common reason a stranger emails this studio, and the work she takes the most care over.
A date, initials, or four or five words. Not a sentence — a 6mm band gives you about eighteen characters inside before the letters have to shrink past reading size.
Engraving is inside for something private and outside for something declared. She will ask which, and there is no wrong answer.
The honest version
That figure was invented by an advertising agency in 1947 and raised to two months, then three, by the same people who were selling the diamonds.
By month
The modern birthstone list was standardised by the American jewellery trade in 1912, largely to sell stones people had not heard of. It is a nice piece of shorthand and a terrible reason to choose a stone you have to wear for fifty years.
| Month | Stone | Her verdict |
|---|---|---|
| January | Garnet | Genuinely hard-wearing. One of the good ones. |
| February | Amethyst | Yes — and go bigger than you think, it is affordable. |
| March | Aquamarine | The hardest stone she sets as a matter of course. |
| April | Diamond | She does not buy diamonds. Bring your own and she will set it. |
| May | Emerald | Beautiful and full of fractures. Pendant, not a ring. |
| June | Pearl or moonstone | Both, and both need looking after. |
| July | Ruby | Corundum, so as tough as sapphire. Expensive in any size. |
| August | Peridot | Soft-ish and it scratches. Earrings. |
| September | Sapphire | The one she recommends most for a ring worn daily. |
| October | Opal or tourmaline | Opal in a pendant. Tourmaline in anything. |
| November | Citrine or topaz | Both fine, both fade in strong sun. |
| December | Turquoise or tanzanite | Turquoise is porous; tanzanite chips. Handle both gently. |
Of the twelve, she keeps 8 in the drawer.Those are here, with hardness and what damages each one.
Tell me what you are thinking of. I read every one of these myself.
GoFive questions and you get a range, before you speak to anyone.
GoCome to the studio, or talk it through on a video call.
GoCare, sizing, and the things people email me about most.
Go