Guides

Three pieces written because the answers were hard to find. Every figure in them comes from a published rule we read at the source or from our own catalogue.

Metals

Sterling, plated, vermeil: what the metal words are allowed to mean

The federal rules that define sterling silver, gold plating and vermeil, read at the source, with our own catalogue counted against them.

Care

Keeping the finish: tarnish, plating wear, and the polish that makes it worse

Why silver goes dark and plating goes thin, what conservators do about the first, and why the standard advice is wrong for the second.

Fit

Length and fit: where each inch sits, and what your skin has to say about it

The lengths this range actually holds, what each one does on the body, how to measure with a piece of string, and the honest version of the sensitive-skin question.