Search for Jewish jewellery in the UK and most of what comes back is gold plated or thin sterling silver, shipped in from abroad and priced accordingly. That is fine for a first piece, or a gift to a young child. It is not what you want for something worn every day, or handed down. Here is how to tell the difference before you buy.
Start with the metal, not the symbol
Almost everyone chooses a symbol first and worries about the metal afterwards. Do it the other way round. The symbol decides what the piece means. The metal decides whether it still exists in twenty years.
Gold plating is a microscopically thin layer of gold over a base metal, usually brass. On a pendant worn against skin and clothing it wears through within a year or two, and once it does there is nothing honest to be done about it. Gold vermeil holds up better, because the base is sterling silver and the gold layer has to reach at least 2.5 microns, but it still wears. Solid gold is gold all the way through. You can polish it, repair it, resize it and pass it on.
In the UK you will mostly see 9k, 14k and 18k. 9k is the most affordable solid gold and the hardest wearing. 18k carries the deeper colour and the weight in the hand. Both are real gold, and both carry a hallmark.
Check the hallmark
This is the part most buyers skip. Any gold item sold in the UK above one gram must carry a hallmark from an assay office, and that mark states the purity in parts per thousand: 375 for 9k, 585 for 14k, 750 for 18k. It also records who made the piece and where it was tested.
A piece with no hallmark either sits below the weight threshold or has never been near an assay office. Ask which. A seller who cannot tell you where a piece was hallmarked usually cannot tell you where it was made either.
The symbols and what they carry
Chai is the Hebrew word for life, written with the letters chet and yod. In gematria those letters add up to eighteen, which is why gifts of money in Jewish life so often come in multiples of eighteen. It is the most given piece of Jewish jewellery in Britain and it suits men and women equally. We cover the background in our guide to the chai symbol and how to wear it.
The Star of David, or Magen David, is the clearest statement of Jewish identity and the piece most people picture first.
The hamsa, a stylised open hand, is worn across Jewish and wider Middle Eastern traditions and reads as protection.
Hebrew name and initial pendants are the personal route. They suit someone who wants their own name in Hebrew script rather than a shared symbol, and they tend to land better with teenagers than a traditional motif does.
Size, chain and how it sits
Something in the region of 11mm to 18mm sits close to the collarbone and disappears under a collar, which is what most people want for daily wear. Above 20mm the pendant becomes the thing you are wearing, and it needs a longer chain to hang properly.
Check whether the chain comes with the piece, and in what metal. A solid gold pendant on a plated chain is a false economy, and buying a chain separately usually costs more than you expect. Look for designs where the chain runs through the pendant itself rather than through a small bail, because those sit flat instead of twisting round to show their back.
Diamonds without the mining question
A diamond set piece reads at a distance where a plain gold one reads as outline. Lab grown diamonds have made that affordable. They are the same material as mined stones, the same hardness, graded by the same laboratories, and they cost a fraction of the price. For a symbol that carries meaning about life and identity, plenty of people prefer a stone with no mining question attached.
Ask for the total carat weight in writing. A piece described only as diamond set, with no figure anywhere, is telling you something.
Buying in London
Hatton Garden has been London's jewellery quarter for well over a century, and buying from a maker who works there means the person selling you the piece can answer for how it was made. That matters more than it sounds when something needs repairing in ten years.
We make our Jewish pieces in Hatton Garden in solid gold, set with lab grown diamonds, chain included, with the carat weight and the price listed on every product page. The Chai Life Pendant starts at 299 pounds, and the diamond set Star of David pendants start at 770. You can see the whole range in the Jewish jewellery collection.
Every piece is made to order in our Hatton Garden workshop and is usually ready in two to three weeks, then dispatched fully insured and tracked.
If you would rather see the pieces in your hand before you choose, book a consultation at our Hatton Garden studio and we will bring them out for you.