Jewellery history courses
The following links are to organisations that run courses on the history of jewellery fairly regularly. They are mainly based in London, UK. If you know of any other organisations whch should be listed, please let us know here. The Society of Jewellery Historians does not endorse any of the courses listed below, of course, but welcomes any comments from members.
London
The Society of Jewellery Historians
SJH runs frequent courses on all aspects of jewellery history, as well as a regular series of lectures. For details of the current lecture programme, click
here.
For details of past events, click
here.
Christie's Education
Regular short courses on many aspects of antiques and fine arts, including jewellery. For details, click
here.
Gem-A, The Gemmological Association of Great Britain
Gem-A is the world’s longest established provider of gemmology courses. They also run occasional courses on aspects of jewellery. This spring they are hosting a mini-series of talks with well-known jewellery authors, which is open to members and non-members alike. For details, click
here.
The Goldsmiths' Company
Regular series of short courses on all aspects of precious metals, including jewellery, hall-marking and the identification of fakes and forgeries. For details, click here.
Sotheby's
Regular short courses on many aspects of antiques and fine arts, including jewellery. For details, click here.
Victoria and Albert Museum
The V&A runs frequent courses related to the history of jewellery.
Their 2026 online programme includes:
A History of Jewellery. Tuesday 21 April 2026 – Tuesday 23 June 2026. This is an online-only course, but numbers are limited to allow full participation.
A Golden Age: European Renaissance Jewellery and Accessories . One-day course: 11 June 2026.
For details of other V&A courses, click here.
SWISS GEMMOLOGICAL INSTITUTE
The SSEF in Basel (Switzerland) has launched a comprehensive 5-day jewellery history course, with jewellery history (from antiquity to present) and gemstone history lectures in the mornings, and discussion of current topics and lots of practical, hands-on jewellery workshops in the afternoons. This seminar will take place at least once a year, with the next scheduled for 13-17 October 2025.
For details, click
here.
On-line courses
The Society of Jewellery Historians
A number of online courses and lectures on the history of jewellery are available on the SJH Facebook site here, along with much else of interest to jewellery historians.
Les Enluminures
Les Enluminures, founded in Paris in 1991 by Dr. Sandra Hindman, is a centre for research and retail of exceptional rings and early manuscripts. Podcast - Episode 10: Diana Scarisbrick: 50 years of Jewelry Expertise, is a fascinating conversation with jewellery historian Diana Scarisbrick in which she discusses the origins of her interest in jewellery.
Sigrid M. van Roode
Dr Sigrid van Roode is a jewellery historian and archaeologist, specialising in the traditional jewellery of the Middle East. She gave a lecture on Egyptian zār jewellery to the SJH in 2019. Middle Eastern Jewellery: design - history - symbolism, is a series of modules covering all aspects of traditional jewellery from the Middle East and North Africa.