Reuse and reward yourself

Old outdated jewelry becomes new again thanks to an up-to-date jeweller

After reading an article by Janis Wallace in The London Free Press a few weeks ago (February 9, 2009) about taking your old jewellery and making it into a new piece, I became intrigued.

In the article jewellery stores such as R.G Huxley Jewellers, Nash's Jewellers, Young and Co. Jewellers, were all asked about converting your old jewels and supported the trend. It is an idea that personally never crossed my mind. We all may have bought or have got something inherited and passed down to us that we wouldn't necessarily wear because it is old-fashioned, but respect the sedimentary value.

To do this re-crafting isn't an easy task. It is like a blacksmith-type operation, science mixed with art. The process involves melting your old jewellery down in a melting pot then re-crafting it in moulds for a new piece.

Wallace explains the process perfectly in her article.

“If diamonds are a girl's best friend, many women now don't want to drop their best friend forever when a new, hipper version appears. Instead, they are taking that best friend in for a makeover,” she wrote.

The jewellers can't guarantee that your specific piece can be melted down, that's why you need to have a proper assessment and not necessarily with a store sales associate. Note that gold chains are the trickiest to melt down and rework. Gold goes for approximately $900 to $1,200 an ounce these days and there has been a drop in demand of diamonds and jewellery altogether due to the economy.

Some people would be disappointed when bringing their old pieces to a jeweller to sell and find that it's not worth as much as they thought. But restoring, reusing or redesigning costs much less than buying something new.

Reworking your old-fashioned pieces into something wearable is innovative and you have many options such as:

Rearrange, add stones, make an necklace out of diamond ring

- Wanting the stones but not the setting

- Yellow gold can be associated with an older generation, while the younger generation tends to prefer white gold.

- Divided up pieces among family member for example a grandmothers ring can have the three stones taken out and made into three rings for each child.

- Taking three rings and making them into one custom design.

There is also a restoration process that can be done to your jewellery. This process restores old pieces to the ‘original glory', with no melting involved. There are many options for we recession-istas, as well as men, in taking advantage of this new trend.
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