Now’s the Time to Buy Silver Jewelry

Under $100

“A tiny replica of the key to your childhood home” that can be engraved with an address, lucky numbers, a wedding date, or anything else of numerical significance (up to four characters, including symbols like $, !, and #). It’s the only piece of jewelry actress Kat Dennings can’t live without.

Thanks Dad sources lesser-used gems like iolite, hessonite, and morganite — or those in unusual hues like this tourmaline. The color of the rose quartz reminds me of a corner of a windowpane frosted with snow.

Heidi Bivens, the costume designer for Euphoria, collaborated with Catbird on this homage to the great David Lynch, inspired by a picture of his hands and his epitaph, “Night Blooming Jasmine.”

Under $200

Kristin Scott Thomas thinks of her toe ring “like a wedding ring on my toe.” This trio of toe rings from Chan Luu can be split with friends (in lieu of a friendship bracelet) if you’re feeling sentimental.

I’ve said it once, and I’ll say it again: Getting a Marla Aaron lock is a rite of passage. Modeled after hardware-store carabiners, Marla Aaron locks can be used as connectors. The Babylock is the most popular, but there’s everything from the Spring Lock and Regular Lock to a Mega Lock (with a price upon request).

It may not have the enamel Bea Bongiasca is known for, but it’s another one of her “vine-twirled” figures. Sold as a single, it doesn’t require a pierced ear, either.

Dunton Ellerkamp’s Owen studs appeared in last year’s Secret Strategist Gift Guide; I heard about them later from Saloon founder Julia Harrison. “They look simultaneously Space Age–y and like something calcified you pulled from the dirt,” Harrison says.

“It has been said that Colin Firth is ‘the thinking woman’s heartthrob,’ and this, too, is Ted Muehling as jeweler,” says illustrator Joana Avillez. “Once you know the visual vocabulary to spot a Ted Muehling, you’ll see them everywhere. The identifier is that they are perfect.” As are these chips, thinly sliced like a Lay’s potato. (While the chips themselves are sterling silver, the ear wires are made from 14k yellow gold.)

A pair of Ames’ Lizzies were high on our senior editor Hilary Reid’s holiday wish list (after she saw them on her friend Annie), with the pin-cushion design quite medieval-y.

Under $300

Catbird describes its collaboration with Japanese Breakfast as “a meditation on time, romance, and the sea.”I can’t help thinking of the Birth of Venus with this shell.

Dorsey’s Maxwell is set with lab-grown moissanite, which is often billed as an alternative to diamond (you’ll see it in many an engagement ring). The earrings, also available in medium (for $380) and large ($505), themselves feature a Georgian-inspired prong setting and an old-fashioned latch-back closure.

Thanks in part to the hinges, each ball spins.

The spiral discs are not unlike a bird’s-eye view of a whirlpool or a symbol of a cycle — depending on your perspective.

Our senior writer Lauren Ro saw Brennan’s Figaro Hoops on Stephanie Cleary of Morrow Soft Goods and immediately asked her about them. “They’re made in Los Angeles and have a subtle wave to them that feels so effortless,” Ro explains. And while she usually wears gold, they “look so good in silver” (and go well with the Maria Tash studs in her other piercings, which are white gold).

An Italian pastille (available in flavors of black currant and eucalyptus menthol from a fourth-generation confectionery) that J.Hannah 3-D scanned to make a “wearable treat.”

I’d say what the bellybutton ring was to the aughts, the waist chain is to the 2020s.

It can be a worry stone, to be “held between your thumb and forefinger to relieve stress,” and, when removed from the cord, a dish to burn incense or a small catchall. Better yet: Starling will donate 15 percent of its profits to Win, an organization that provides housing in New York City.

For some reason, the garnet and green amethyst don’t read Christmasy.

According to TenThousandThings, the beads originate from the ancient Fertile Crescent.

Under $400

It’s the miniature version of Abel Objects’ Tilt Signet Ring, with the oval tilted at an angle.

Napoleon returned from his Egyptian campaign with a carnelian. Maybe this can similarly be your talisman. (It also comes in turquoise, another symbol of good fortune.)

Editor Mallory Rice previously described Saphir Bachar jewelry to me as “substantial, sculptural, feminine, and warm all at once.” I think that description fits the Whorl Ring perfectly.

The large Australian opal is a color of green that’s “natural but a little freaky, a little sour: If a normal green calls to mind healthy ferns and forests, these shades come straight from bogs and sulphuric hot springs,” says our writer Erin Schwartz.

Can you tell Agmes used the infinity sign for inspiration? (This piece is called Inti after all.)

Not diamond earrings in capitalized letters, but diamond earrings in lowercase.

Ursa Major compares it to a traditional Chinese jade bangle (meaning you don’t have to take it off) and recommends sizing down — sizes available are extra-extra small, extra small, small, medium, large, extra large — based on the measurements of the interior dimensions listed.

“Sophie Buhai is the queen of the small hoop,” according to Wall Street Journal art editor Alexandra Citrin-Safadi. Buhai’s cuff is just as sculptural as Buhai’s hoops without the commitment of a piercing.

Gabriella Kiss (formerly Ted Muehling’s apprentice) is influenced by nature in the Hudson Valley — in this case, the “cow killer,” otherwise known as the velvet ant.

Under $500

Paloma Picasso originally designed a table setting for a Tiffany exhibition in 1979 — a year later, the idea for Paloma’s Graffiti came. I might like Picasso’s olive leaf (as from the groves surrounding her home in Marrakech) motif slightly more.

There’s nothing more romantic than a fede ring — the clasped hands in the front open up to another ring in the middle. I haven’t seen a sterling-silver one in a long time.

Just something so Scandinavian: a vintage Henning Koppel for Georg Jensen ring. It’s in the style of Koppel’s Fish Dish, which is in the Metropolitan’s collection.

While Mociun by Caitlin Mociun is playful (as evidenced by its instant-ramen charm), CRZM by Mociun is elemental — and a whole lot cheaper. For comparison’s sake, the Boulder Ring is $495 in sterling silver and $2,500 in solid gold.