Netherlands Jewelry Shopping
Aside from the different names used for gemstones and precious metals, expats will find Netherlands jewelry shopping the same as in other countries, with large specialty chains and and small independent jewelers.
AMSTERDAM’S DIAMOND HISTORY
In the past, Amsterdam was known as the ‘City of Diamonds’. Its jewelers had built a reputation of high craftsmanship working with the planet’s hardest stone. Never was this more obvious than when King Edward VII of England entrusted the ‘Cullinan‘ (the largest diamond ever found at 3106 carats) to Dutch jewelers Joseph and Abraham Asscher for cutting and finishing. The result pleased the king so much that he had two of the nine sub-stones encrusted in the British royal staff and crown.
The Asscher Diamond Company (Royal Asscher) is still in existence today, at the same location in Amsterdam.
Other highly-regarded Dutch diamond companies are Royal Coster Diamonds and Gassan Diamonds.
NETHERLANDS JEWELRY SHOPPING
Expats curious about Netherlands jewelry shopping will find it is no different than in most other countries. Costume jewelry and commercially-priced watches are available at general merchandisers and lower-end specialty retailers while fine jewelry and designer watches are sold in higher-end specialty chains, independent jewelers and better department stores.
Among the retailers in the high-end segment of the Dutch jewelry market is Schaap & Citroen (with store locations in Amsterdam, Rotterdam, Eindhoven, The Hague, Den Bosch, Groningen, Haarlem, Utrecht and Maastricht).
There are two large Dutch jewelry store chains – Siebel Juweliers (50+ locations) which sells moderate, better and designer jewelry and Lucardi (100+ shops) that sells commercially-priced gold and silver jewelry.
MyJewellery is a young, fast-growing Netherlands fashion jewelry chain with over 20 stores in major cities including Amsterdam, Rotterdam, The Hague, Utrecht, Eindhoven, Haarlem, Breda, Leiden and Delft.
Swarovski, the world’s preeminent maker of crystal jewelry, has 20 retail outlets in Netherlands. .
De Bijenkorf is a Dutch luxury department store chain with 7 locations: Amsterdam, Amstelveen, Eindhoven, Maastricht, Rotterdam, The Hague and Utrecht. They offer a sizeable designer jewelry and watches collection from brands such as Cartier, Isabel Marant, Armani Exchange, Calvin Klein, DKNY, Guess, Kurt Geiger and Michael Kors.
DUTCH JEWELRY TERMINOLOGY
JEWELRY MATERIALS
ENGLISH <–> DUTCH
- bead = kraal
- bronze = brons
- crystal = kristal
- diamond = diamant
- emerald = smaragd
- gemstone = edelsteen
- gold = goud
- leather = leer
- moonstone = maansteen
ENGLISH <–> DUTCH
- pearl = parel
- quartz = kwarts
- sapphire = saffier
- semi-precious = halfedel
- silver = zilver
- steel = staal
- stone = steen
- turquoise = turkoois
- white gold = witgoud
JEWELRY STYLES
ENGLISH <–> DUTCH
- ankle bracelet = enkelsieraad
- bracelet = armband
- charm = bedel
- choker = collier
- earrings = oorbellen
- hanging earrings = oorhangers
- hoop earrings = oorringen
ENGLISH <–> DUTCH
- link = schakel
- necklace = ketting
- pendant = hanger
- stud earrings = oorknoppen
- toe ring = teenring
- watch = horloge
- wedding ring = trouwring
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