Cufflinks

How a cufflink fastens behind the cuff:

the back decides how easy a pair is to wear. The toggle, or bullet back, has a small bar that swivels flat to pass through the holes and turns sideways to lock. It is the most common kind and the easiest to fit one-handed. A whale back has a flat tab that flips up instead, with nothing to turn. A fixed back is one solid piece, the sturdiest of all and the fiddliest to push through a starched cuff. Chain links are the old form, a face on each side of the cuff joined by a short chain, and silk knots are the soft, cheap option for a shirt worn without a tie.

French cuffs and the convertible cuff on an ordinary shirt:

cufflinks need a hole on both sides of the cuff. A French cuff, also called a double cuff, is twice the usual length and folds back on itself, then is pinched so the two edges meet like the mouth of a purse. A convertible cuff has a button but also a second hole, so it takes either. A plain barrel cuff with a single buttonhole takes none at all, so check the shirt before the pair; shirts cut for them turn up among men’s clothing. Keep the face modest under a jacket, and if you wear a watch on that wrist, a slim dress model from men’s watches slides under a double cuff where a chunky diver will not.

Jadeite from the Motagua valley, set in Antigua:

Guatemala is one of the few places in the world where jadeite is mined, along the Motagua river, and most of it is cut and polished in Antigua. A pair of jadeite cufflinks set in sterling silver costs around Q1,500 new from a workshop there, and the same stones set in gold several times that, while plated base-metal pairs cost a small fraction of either. Second-hand, the certificate a workshop issues does much of the selling. A jade pair with its paper and box keeps more of its price; the same pair without either is a green stone nobody can vouch for. Engraved initials narrow the market to whoever shares them.

Where a used pair of cufflinks gives itself away:

work the toggle first. A bar that spins loose or droops instead of clicking into place will let the link slip out of a cuff halfway through dinner. Turn the pair over and look at the edges and the post, where plating rubs through first and brass or grey metal shows underneath. A 925 stamp means sterling only on a piece that also looks and behaves like it: metal that tarnishes green, or that a magnet grabs, is a plated copy whatever it says. Montblanc and Hugo Boss pairs are copied often, so check the logo, the engraving on the back and the box against each other. Real jadeite stays cool in the hand for longer than glass or plastic, and its colour is uneven, with veins and cloudy patches. A stone that is perfectly uniform, glassy with tiny bubbles, or greener inside its cracks than on its face has been dyed or is not jade at all. Dyed serpentine and glass are sold to visitors as Guatemalan jade, which is why the certificate matters more here than with any other material.

Cufflinks that come out of the drawer after a wedding:

most pairs offered second-hand were bought for one wedding, a graduation or a gift and then put away, which is why so many still have their box. Photograph both links side by side, front and back, in daylight, with the stamp and the toggle in view, and say what the metal is rather than what colour it looks. State whether the pair is engraved and with which initials, and whether the jade has its workshop certificate. A buyer writing from Zacapa or Flores about a jadeite pair will want the stone described and a photo of that certificate before arranging to meet.