Jewelry Trivia
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96 free Jewelry trivia questions with answers — trivia quiz, new questions added Oct 2026.
48 free Jewelry trivia questions with answers. Jewelry is where geology, chemistry, royalty and marketing meet. This quiz covers all of it: how gem hardness is ranked and which mineral sits where, what a karat and a hallmark actually tell you, why the birthstone list looks the way it does, and the stories behind the world's most famous stones, from the diamond mailed to a museum in a brown-paper box to the one that only queens are allowed to wear. You will also meet the great houses and the people who shaped the trade: the goldsmith who made eggs for the tsars, the New York firm that invented the six-prong ring, the Paris jeweller a king called the jeweller of kings, and the mining cartel whose copywriter turned a diamond into a permanent engagement tradition. It works for a jewellery-lover, a pub-quiz round or anyone who has wondered what 925 stamped inside a ring means. Every answer is checked against Wikipedia's articles on the stones, metals, houses and crown jewels involved, and the source sentence sits under each question.
30 of 96 questions with answers and explanations. Play the quiz
Q 01The Mohs hardness scale used for gemstones was introduced in 1812 by a mineralogist of which nationality?
German
German: Friedrich Mohs simply ranked ten minerals by which could scratch which, so the steps are uneven, and diamond at 10 is far harder than corundum at 9.
Q 02Which mineral sits at 1, the softest point, on the Mohs scale?
Talc
Talc: soapstone is made mostly of talc, which makes the rock soft enough to carve, so people have shaped it into bowls, pipes and figures for thousands of years.
Q 03Rubies get their red colour from traces of which element?
Chromium
Chromium: a ruby is just red corundum, and the same mineral in blue or any other colour is sold under a different gem name.
Q 04Which gemstone is the modern birthstone for September?
Sapphire
Sapphire: in 1912 America's National Association of Jewelers adopted a modern list to standardise birthstones, which had varied from one tradition to another.
Q 05Which upheaval saw Louis XIV's blue diamond stolen?
French Revolution
French Revolution: thieves stole most of the French crown jewels, and the Hope Diamond is probably a piece of the lost blue stone.
Q 06Trace amounts of which element give the Hope Diamond its blue colour?
Boron
Boron: the Hope's famous curse is much younger than the stone, since tales of it only arose in the early 1900s.
Q 07To which institution was the Hope Diamond donated in 1958?
The Smithsonian, Washington
The Smithsonian, Washington: the jeweller who gave it simply sent it by registered mail in a box wrapped in brown paper.
Q 08Which jeweller first lent jewels to actresses for the 1944 Oscars and later donated the Hope Diamond?
Harry Winston
Harry Winston: he made the Hope the star of his touring Court of Jewels exhibition, which raised money for charity.
Q 09Which French traveller bought the rough Hope Diamond in India and sold it to Louis XIV?
Jean-Baptiste Tavernier
Jean-Baptiste Tavernier: besides paying for the stone, Louis XIV granted him letters of nobility, and he bought the barony of Aubonne near Geneva.
Q 10Found in 1905, the Cullinan diamond weighed about how many carats before it was cut?
About 3,100
About 3,100: yet the shape of its surfaces suggested that even this rough stone was only part of a larger crystal.
Q 11The Cullinan Diamond was named after what?
The owner of the mine
The owner of the mine: Frederick Wells actually found the stone in 1905, but it took Thomas Cullinan's name instead.
Q 12Cullinan I, the Great Star of Africa, is mounted in which piece of the British regalia?
The Sovereign's Sceptre with Cross
The Sovereign's Sceptre with Cross: made for Charles II's coronation in 1661, it had to be altered in 1910 to take the huge stone.
Q 13What does the name Koh-i-Noor mean?
Mountain of Light
Mountain of Light: visitors found it disappointingly dull, so Prince Albert had it recut in London, and the diamond lost over 40% of its weight.
Q 21What was the first Fabergé imperial egg, made in 1885, called?
The Hen Egg
The Hen Egg: it was modelled on an older egg in the Danish royal collection, from the empress's homeland.
Q 22What did Pierre Cartier trade a pearl necklace for in 1917?
A mansion
A mansion: Morton Plant's house at 653 Fifth Avenue became Cartier's New York flagship store.
Q 23Renaissance painters ground which gemstone into ultramarine, a costly blue pigment?
Lapis lazuli
Lapis lazuli: 'ultramarine' means 'beyond the sea', said to be because the stone was imported into Europe from Asia.
Q 14In 1937 the Koh-i-Noor was set into which piece of British regalia?
The Queen Mother's Crown
The Queen Mother's Crown: when she died in 2002, the crown was placed on her coffin for her state funeral.
Q 15The 1849 treaty that ceded the Koh-i-Noor to Queen Victoria was signed in which city?
Lahore
Lahore: in 2000 several Indian MPs demanded that Britain return the diamond, claiming it had been taken illegally.
Q 16Why is most jewellery gold mixed with other metals?
Too soft
Too soft: pure gold bends and dents so easily that even 18-karat jewellery is a quarter other metals.
Q 17What is a ring stamped 925 made of?
Sterling silver
Sterling silver: from 1697 to 1720 silversmiths had to use a purer standard, because sterling coins were being melted down for silverware.
Q 18The word 'hallmark' derives from the London headquarters of which guild?
The Goldsmiths' Company
The Goldsmiths' Company: from 1478 makers had to bring their gold and silver to Goldsmiths' Hall to be tested and stamped, which gave 'hallmark' its name.
Q 19The 1300 English statute that began hallmarking required silver to be marked with which animal's head?
A leopard
A leopard: the statute made the 'guardians of the craft' test silver for purity before striking the leopard's head on it.
Q 20Which symbol is the assay office mark for Birmingham on British hallmarks?
An anchor
Birmingham's mark is an anchor, reputedly chosen in 1773 at London's Crown and Anchor tavern, where Sheffield's lobbyists took the crown and Birmingham's the anchor.
Q 24Which king called Cartier 'the jeweller of kings and the king of jewellers'?
Edward VII
Edward VII, who ordered 27 tiaras from Cartier for his 1902 coronation, called it 'the jeweller of kings and the king of jewellers' and granted a royal warrant in 1904.
Q 25In 1904 Louis Cartier designed a wristwatch for which pioneering aviator friend?
Alberto Santos-Dumont
Alberto Santos-Dumont: he complained that checking a pocket watch while flying was impractical, so Cartier made him one for the wrist.
Q 26Which diamond company's 1947 slogan 'A Diamond Is Forever' was later named the century's best?
De Beers
De Beers: the N. W. Ayer agency wrote the line for a campaign that sold diamonds as a never-ending sign of love.
Q 27The first well-documented diamond engagement ring was given in 1477 by which archduke?
Maximilian of Austria
Maximilian of Austria: Mary of Burgundy married him in August 1477 to win Habsburg support against the French king.
Q 28The Black Prince's Ruby in the Imperial State Crown is actually which gemstone?
A spinel
A spinel: legend says Edward the Black Prince received it in 1367 as payment for a battle victory, and for centuries it was mistaken for a ruby.
Q 29The word 'diamond' comes from a Greek word meaning what?
Unbreakable
'Diamond' descends from the Greek adamas, 'unbreakable' or 'untameable', the same root as the English word 'adamant'; it reached English via Old French diamant.
Q 30The GIA diamond colour scale begins with which letter?
D
GIA's colour scale starts at D, the first three letters being skipped so the new 1950s scale would not be confused with older A-B-C style grades; it runs down to Z.