Journal
Buying signed jewelry at auction
Signatures, numbers, hallmarks and lab reports: how a jewel earns the word 'signed' in our catalogue.
A jewel is signed when it carries the maker's name, and usually a number, on the metal. Our specialist checks the signature against the house's known marks and the period of the piece. A lab report (GIA, Gübelin, SSEF) describes the stone: weight, colour, clarity and whether it has been treated.
Period pieces
Art Deco, Retro and mid-century jewels are described with their period, their metal and any later work: a replaced clasp, a re-tipped claw, a re-cut stone. None of that is hidden; all of it is in the report.
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Graded cards: the slab, the grade and the population
What PSA 10 means, why the population report matters, and how we photograph a slab so you can check it yourself.
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The sneaker vocabulary, and the one thing we check before anything else.
Hermès leathers and the blind stamp
Togo, Clemence, Epsom and Swift, and how the small stamp inside the bag dates it to the year.