Questions
Most of what follows is the sort of thing you would ask across a table. If your question is not here, write to us and it will be answered by a person.
The stones
Are the stones real?
Yes. Every precious stone in The Collection is a real sapphire, ruby, emerald, aquamarine or tanzanite — chemically, physically and optically the same as one taken out of the ground. They are grown rather than mined, which is a question of origin rather than of authenticity. Telling the difference takes a laboratory, not an eye. The pearls are a separate story, told below.
Are laboratory-grown sapphires, rubies and emeralds the same as mined ones?
Yes, in every property a gemmologist measures: the same crystal, the same hardness, the same colour and the same way of holding light. A laboratory-grown sapphire is corundum, exactly as a mined one is. What differs is where it began.
Why laboratory-grown?
Because it is the only honest way to hold thirteen or sixteen carats of this colour and this clarity. A mined stone of the same weight, saturation and cleanliness is the kind of rarity that reaches an auction room rather than a hand. Growing the stone removes the extraction and the inconsistency and keeps the part that matters — the colour, the cut, and the way light moves through it. It is the founding idea of The Collection rather than a concession made to it.
Is a laboratory-grown stone an investment?
It is a piece to wear and to pass on. Its value lies in the colour, the scale and the making, and those stay with the ring for as long as it is worn.
Are two pieces of the same design identical?
No. Each piece is made individually and stones vary — in tone, in the way a particular facet takes the light, in the small things that make one ring recognisably itself. Two Celeste Sapphires are the same design and not the same object. It is worth seeing the specific stone rather than the design, which is why every piece is shown in detail first.
What does thirteen or sixteen carats look like on a hand?
Larger than most people picture, and less than some fear. The stone in The Celeste Sapphire measures thirteen by eleven by nine millimetres — it covers the width of a finger and holds a room, but it is a ring for lunch rather than a ring for a safe. This is the one question best answered by seeing it, which is what a private viewing is for: the piece is shown on a hand, at length, at whatever angle you ask for.
Wearing it every day
Is a sapphire or ruby suitable for an everyday engagement ring?
Yes, and few stones are better suited to it. Sapphire and ruby are both corundum, nine on the Mohs scale of hardness and second only to diamond, so a large sapphire or ruby can be worn every day for a lifetime and keep its polish and its edges.
Is an emerald suitable for an everyday engagement ring?
Yes, worn with a little care. Emerald sits at seven and a half to eight on the Mohs scale, and the emerald cut, with its clipped corners and four claws, was devised to protect it. Take it off for the gym, the garden and housework, and clean it in warm soapy water rather than an ultrasonic cleaner, and it will be worn for decades.
Is a tanzanite suitable for an everyday engagement ring?
Tanzanite is at its best as a ring for evenings and occasions, or as an everyday ring for someone happy to take it off for anything hands-on. It sits at six to six and a half on the Mohs scale, so it asks for more care than a sapphire: keep it apart from harder stones, and clean it only in warm soapy water, away from steam and ultrasonic cleaners.
The pearls
Are the pearls laboratory-grown?
The pearls are cultured. Each one grew inside a living oyster or freshwater mussel over a period of years, built up layer by layer in nacre, the same material as any pearl found in the sea. The Pearl Cabinet holds golden South Sea, Tahitian and freshwater pearls, each chosen for the depth of its nacre and the lustre that comes from it.
How should a pearl ring be worn and cared for?
Put it on last, after perfume and hairspray, and take it off first. Wipe it with a soft cloth after wearing and keep it apart from harder stones, in its own box. Worn often and treated this way, a pearl keeps its lustre for generations.
Anniversaries
Which anniversary does each stone mark?
By the traditional British list, pearl marks the thirtieth wedding anniversary, ruby the fortieth, sapphire the forty-fifth, emerald the fifty-fifth and diamond the sixtieth. Each is a fitting stone for the year it belongs to.
What is A Carat for Every Year?
An anniversary idea: a precious stone with one carat for every year together, so a sixteen carat stone for sixteen years. The pieces in The Collection are sized for it, from twelve stones in the Nymphéas bands to sixteen carats in The Vesper Tanzanite. Read more about A Carat for Every Year.
The making
What are the pieces set in?
Hallmarked platinum or eighteen-carat gold, both re-crafted rather than newly mined. The settings are made to hold the stone rather than to decorate it — four claws at the corners of an emerald cut, individually sculpted water lily claws on the Nymphéas bands — and the shanks are kept fine so that nothing competes with the colour.
Platinum or eighteen-carat gold?
Platinum is naturally white, dense and weighty on the hand, and holds a large stone with great security. Eighteen-carat gold is three quarters pure gold and carries a warmer light that flatters golden, peach and red stones. Both are hallmarked, and the choice is usually settled by the colour of the stone and the skin it sits against.
What is a hallmark, and why does it matter?
A hallmark is a legal guarantee, struck into the metal by an independent assay office, that a piece is the precious metal it claims to be. In the United Kingdom it is required on gold over one gram and platinum over half a gram, and it carries three marks: the maker's sponsor mark, the fineness and the assay office. Every piece in The Collection is hallmarked.
Where are the pieces made?
In Britain, individually, and sized to the wearer rather than to a standard.
What comes with a piece?
A certificate of authenticity, and documentation of the stone's assessment by a jeweller qualified through the Gemological Institute of America and the Gemmological Association of Great Britain. The piece arrives in a walnut box made for it, lined with cashmere, inside plain recyclable outer packaging.
How long does a piece take?
About fifteen working days from the point at which everything is agreed, because the piece is made rather than taken off a shelf. You will hear where it has got to as it goes.
Choosing a piece
Why can I not buy a piece directly from the website?
Because a ring of this size is not something to buy from a photograph. Every piece is shown first — in detail, in motion, on a hand, by private video appointment — and the conversation happens before any decision does. Joining the private waiting list for a piece is how that begins: you leave your name, and we write to you personally to arrange a time.
What happens at a private viewing?
You see the piece in detail and you ask whatever you like. It is a video appointment, unhurried, arranged for a time that suits you. The stone is turned in the light, worn on a hand, shown against skin rather than against a background. Most of the questions people arrive with are answered in the first ten minutes; the rest of the time is for the ones they did not know they had.
Can a piece be made in a different stone, colour or carat weight?
Yes. The pieces shown here are where most conversations start rather than where they have to end. A different colour, a different weight, a different setting — all are possible, and worth raising early, because it shapes everything that follows.
How is a piece priced?
Individually, by the stone, the setting and the scale of the work. Prices are shown on each piece so that you are not left guessing. The reasoning behind a price — why one thirteen carat sapphire is not the same as another — is something we would rather explain in conversation than in a table.
How will I know the size is right?
Each piece is sized to you as part of the making. The ring size guide on this site is a good place to start, and sizing is one of the things settled during a viewing rather than left to guesswork.
Afterwards
How is a piece delivered?
By insured, tracked courier with a signature required, and without charge anywhere in the world.
Can a piece be returned?
Yes, within thirty days of it reaching you, provided it is unworn and comes back in its original packaging with its documentation. Returns within the United Kingdom travel on a prepaid insured label. Pieces made or personalised to a specification cannot be returned unless something is wrong with them, which is one more reason the conversation comes first. Customers in the United Kingdom and the European Union also keep the statutory fourteen day right to cancel.
Can a ring be resized later?
A single-stone ring in platinum or gold can usually be resized by a size or so by a skilled jeweller. A full eternity band, such as the Nymphéas, is set with stones all the way round and is made to the exact finger size from the start. Either way, the size is settled with you before the making begins.
How should a piece be insured and valued?
Each piece is valued by a jeweller qualified through the Gemological Institute of America and the Gemmological Association of Great Britain, and that valuation and documentation are what an insurer will ask for. Most home insurance policies cap any single item unless it is listed by name, so add the piece as a specified item, or insure it with a specialist jewellery insurer.
Anything else
If your question is not here — about a stone, a setting, a weight, or something you have not seen anywhere in The Collection — we would be delighted to answer it.