Cufflinks

Bullet backs, whale backs, chain links and silk knots:

the back decides how a pair goes on and what tends to break. A bullet or torpedo back has a small bar that swivels in line with the post to pass through the cuff, then turns sideways to lock. A whale back has a fixed post and a flat flap that folds down, so there is less inside to wear. Chain links join two decorated faces with a short chain; they look finished from both sides of the cuff, sit a little loose, and are the style most inherited gold pairs use. Silk knots are cheap and casual, and almost nobody resells them. A tuxedo shirt also takes studs in place of front buttons, and these usually come as a matched set with the cufflinks.

Onyx with a tuxedo, plain silver for a thesis defence:

the more formal the occasion, the plainer the pair. Black onyx or mother-of-pearl in a silver or gold setting belongs with a tuxedo and should match the studs. With a dark suit at a daytime wedding or a graduation, polished silver or steel in a simple round or rectangle is hard to get wrong. Enamel, sports crests and engraved initials suit the office or a groomsmen’s gift better than a black-tie evening. Match the metal to the watch, so a steel men’s watch calls for silver or steel rather than gold. A white double-cuff shirt from men’s clothing covers almost any event. Stainless steel never tarnishes and suits weekly wear. Sterling silver darkens in a drawer but polishes back. Solid gold holds its value. Most boxed gift sets are plated base metal, and the plating is what goes.

The hallmark on a pre-owned pair:

it is tiny, stamped on the post or the back of the face, and it says most of what you need to know. 925 or Sterling means solid silver, 750 or 18K means 18-carat gold, and GP, HGE or plated mean a thin layer over base metal. Carry a magnet: neither silver nor gold sticks to one. Check that the pair really is a pair, because a lost cufflink is often replaced with a near match that differs in colour, size or weight. Check stones and enamel for chips and work each back several times. Montblanc, Cartier and Tiffany are the names that get copied; a genuine pair has crisp, even engraving and a hallmark, and a seller with the box and receipt has every reason to show them.

A grandfather’s gold pair, or one worn to a single wedding:

the two sell on different things. Solid gold is worth at least the metal in it, so give the weight in grams and photograph the hallmark close up; a buyer driving in from Liberia or Heredia will want both before he sets off. A pair worn once sells on completeness: show both cufflinks together, the back open and closed, the box, and any studs or tie bar from the set. Describe plated pairs as silver-tone or gold-tone, because calling one silver ends the sale at the first magnet. Put engraved initials in the title; they narrow the buyers to people who share them. And if the pair was bought to go with a rented suit, say what colour it was worn with: someone planning a wedding in the same colours is looking for exactly that.

FAQ:

• Can cufflinks go on a shirt with ordinary button cuffs?

  Only if the cuff is convertible, with a buttonhole on the button side as well, so a cufflink can pass through both. A tailor can add that missing buttonhole to a standard cuff, though it will still be cut like a button cuff.

• What are cufflinks called in Costa Rica?

  Mancuernillas is the word shops and suit-rental businesses use, and gemelos is understood everywhere. Searching for mancuernas mostly turns up gym dumbbells, so title a listing mancuernillas and put gemelos in the text.