Jewellery, price, quality

[whatausername]

What helps you evaluate the worth of a piece of jewellery? Even simple plain metal jewellery like silver or gold? I am considering purchasing some silver earrings around £40-50. Seems like a standard price so that's fine. But how do I know if it's decent quality? What even is quality when it comes to jewellery? For clothing I'd consider fit, look at the stitching, consider the balance of a coat or look at where the shoulders sit, the type of fabric and so on.

When it comes to mass market silver jewellery much of the cost is the huge retail mark ups which is why second hand values are so poor even for initially very expensive items. A lot of it is cast in huge numbers and has little or no artistic merit but taps into the existing fashion.

Most of the cost of my jewellery comes from my time rather than the materials. That's time I spend planning, designing and sourcing stones as well as the fabrication so price isn't really an indicator of quality. Pandora and Monica Vinader for example sell on their brand names as of course does Tiffany. You pay for that too. Little of what you pay is the intrinsic value of the jewellery which can be negligible.

You're looking at mass market "impulse" pieces in that price range. Most will be cast so I'd be looking for good clean casts, crisp and well defined and a decent weight to them. If the piece is hand fabricated then solder joints should be all but invisible. Stones should be securely set and not move. The metal should be well finished with no scratches or dinks.

Pieces should be neatly made and the weight suitable for the use. For example, most people will find 7g earrings comfortable for an evening, 10g is heavy but on the upper limits for acceptability. For a pair for daily use I'm aiming more towards 4g. For pendents, I'm looking for there to be some substance to them so they don't look flimsy and cheap.

The rest of it is down to personal taste as to the style you like.

Thank you for taking the time to reply in detail, that has been really helpful!