专栏

How did the Romans use signet rings? A dealer's guide to Roman seals on letters, wills and storerooms, the images they chose, what survives today, and how to wear a...

Which finger should a man wear a signet ring on? A dealer's guide to the little finger tradition, sizing and resizing antique signets, and how to wear one today.

Is your gold signet ring vintage or antique? How to date one from its hallmarks, carat, shape, construction, engraving and wear, from a dealer who handles hundreds.

What makes one Victorian piece worth £300 and another £30,000, how to spot later reproductions, and which Victorian jewellery you can wear every day.

A dealer's honest guide to old mine, cushion and rose cut diamonds, and why an antique engagement ring beats a lab-grown or new one on charm, ethics and value.

How to get the size right, which antique rings can and cannot be resized, and how to choose an antique ring you can wear every day.

The Pavithra knot ring of Payyanur and the nine-gem navaratna ring: the history, meaning and making of two of India's most sacred rings.

A small gold ball that unfolds into a cross of engraved pyramids: what a Masonic orb is, what its symbols mean, and how to tell an antique from a modern...

Why the Victorians loved bloodstone for men's signet rings, what the stone means, and how to choose an antique bloodstone signet.

Stirrup rings, pie-dish rings, posy rings and iconographic rings: a guide to the main types of medieval ring, what they meant, and how to buy one responsibly.

Snakes, anchors, bees, pansies, comets and locks of hair. What the symbols in Georgian and Victorian jewellery meant, and how to read them today.

Elephants, rice goddesses and the weapons of Vishnu: an introduction to the gold rings of Classical-period Java and the gem-set rings of 19th-century Bali.