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 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.
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.
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.
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.
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 properly 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.
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.