News

To layer gold necklaces without tangling, the trick is spacing and variety: pick two to four chains in lengths roughly 2 to 5 cm apart, mix the chain weights so they don't sit identically, and use a layering clasp to hold the shortest ones in place. That is the short version. At Vanhess Jewellery in Coquitlam, BC, customers bring this up constantly, usually after a layered set turned into a knot by lunchtime. The good news is that tangling is almost always a spacing problem, and spacing is easy to fix. Start with length, not the chains themselves The most...

Gold jewellery tarnishes because of the metals mixed into it, not the gold itself. Pure gold does not tarnish, rust, or corrode. The dullness, the dark film, the faint grey on your skin all come from the other metals in the alloy reacting with sweat, air, and the products you put on. At Vanhess Jewellery in Coquitlam, BC, this is the question we field most at the repair counter, usually from someone holding a chain that looked fine last year. Here is why it happens and how to actually stop it. Pure gold doesn't tarnish. The alloy does. Gold is...

Gold vermeil, gold-filled, and solid gold are three different things, and the difference decides whether a piece lasts a season or a lifetime. If you have been shopping the "demi-fine" category online and trying to figure out what you are actually paying for, this is the breakdown we give walk-in customers at Vanhess Jewellery in Coquitlam, BC every week. Demi-fine is a marketing label, not a material. The material underneath is what matters. What "demi-fine" actually means Demi-fine sits between costume jewellery and fine jewellery. The pieces use real gold, but usually as a coating over another metal rather than...

Graduation jewellery is some of the most worn jewellery we ever sell — students keep these pieces for decades, often as the first "real" jewellery they own. The trick is buying something that survives the transition from school to first job to whatever comes next, without picking the kind of overdesigned piece that looks dated within five years. Under $300 in 2026, you have more good options than the average graduation gift guide implies. Here's what we'd recommend at our shop in Coquitlam. What makes graduation jewellery actually work Three properties separate a graduation gift that gets worn from one...

A stack of wedding bands is the long version of an engagement ring. Couples buy one band at the wedding, sometimes a second at the 10th anniversary, and over decades the stack builds — anniversary bands, push presents, milestone gifts, the eternity band added when the kids leave home. The hard part isn't picking the first band; it's making sure that band still works in twenty years when there are three rings on the same finger. Here's how we think about planning a stack at our bench in Coquitlam. The single decision that constrains everything else Whether your engagement ring...

Three clear sparkly stones sit next to each other on the tray. They look almost identical at arm's length. One costs $20, the second costs $400, and the third costs $1,800. The customer asks the question we get every week: what am I actually paying for? Here's the real comparison between cubic zirconia, moissanite, and lab-grown diamond — by the numbers that matter, with the trade-offs each one carries. The three stones in one paragraph Cubic zirconia (CZ) is zirconium dioxide, lab-made since the 1970s, originally developed for laser optics. Mohs 8.5. Very low cost. Moissanite is silicon carbide, originally...