Reusing Gold and Gems

A common request from clients is to reuse or repurpose gold or gems from second hand jewellery. As detailed below, the process isn’t very straightforward, and therefore our tendency is to say no

What colour/carat is your second hand gold?

We predominately work in 18ct gold. If you have some gold you would like melted and repurposed, it needs to be the same carat value as what we are working with, and the correct colour gold.

Can you sell us gold from your second hand jewellery in exchange for a new piece of jewellery?

Unfortunately no.

Can we incorporate family (inherited) jewellery with sentimental value into a new piece of jewellery?

Possibly, however it may not save you in material cost, it is
rarely a direct swap.

Can we repurpose second hand gems?

We do re-set gems from second hand jewellery but there are a few things that need to be considered before undertaking the (sometimes-irreversible) removal of the gems. Starting with: Are the gems what you think they are?

The quality and condition of gems in second hand jewellery need to be considered before repurposing the gems into new handcrafted jewellery. Is the gem chipped or scratched and is the gem a lively cut and a desirable colour? We can arrange for scratched and chipped loose gems to be repolished.

Sentimentality can however outweigh value and we are not averse to creating a spectacular design to hold a sweet $50 gem pulled from an inherited piece of jewellery.

Second hand jewellery can include highly emotive objects and there is a lot of responsibility on the shoulders of the jeweller to ensure expectations are met and nothing goes awry in the process. The cost to remove numerous very tiny diamonds from an unwanted piece of jewellery sometimes doesn’t always result in saving money, as it takes time to carefully pull out the little ones and they’re often chipped or poor quality.