As tastes and styles often change old jewellery inevitably ends up sitting unworn in a jewellery box. It could be that you have several broken pieces, odd earrings or items with stones missing - anything containing precious metal can usually be reworked into something that you can enjoy wearing again.
If this sounds like something that you might be considering then hopefully I can answer some of your questions below.
How does remodelling work?
Jewellery remodelling is a form of recycling that involved taking apart unused items, melting down the precious metal into ingots and reworking them into brand new pieces of jewellery.
What metals can be recycled?
Yellow gold is the most suitable metal for remodelling due to its purity and I can melt and rework any carat of gold. White gold isn’t really suitable for remodelling due to the different metals used to create its white colour which makes it much more complex to rework. Some old white gold contains nickel and some contains palladium, so without knowing what each alloy is made from it would need to be sent away to be refined.
Alternatively I can accept your old white gold as part payment for new metal for your design. I would weigh the metal and give you the scrap value that I would get from a bullion dealer.
Silver isn’t really suitable for remodelling as the lower cost of the metal compared to the labour involved in reworking would often mean the cost to have it remodelled would be more than the value of the finished piece. For silver I would normally exchange old metal for new unless for sentimental reasons you would prefer the metal to be reworked.
I do not currently work with platinum.
Can I add gemstones to my design?
Absolutely! If you only have plain jewellery to remodel then I am more than happy to source gemstones to your requirements and would include these in your quote.
What if I don’t have enough metal for the design?
As with gemstones, if you don’t have enough old gold I am happy to supply extra new metal. This would be included in your quote.
What if I have a mixture of different gold carats?
Ideally it would be best to keep each melt to one carat but if you did have several pieces of differing carats then I could look at incorporating this into the design.
Different gold carats can be mixed but you would effectively create a unique alloy. This would aesthetically be OK but when it is sent for hallmarking it would be marked at a lower carat as per British Hallmarking Laws. For example, if you have two rings of the exact same weight, one is 18ct and one is 9ct, when you melt them together you would be left with an alloy of 13.5ct. However, this would then only be hallmarked as 9ct because the only allowable carats in the UK are 9, 14, 18 & 22.
What if I only have yellow gold but would prefer white or rose gold?
If you would prefer a different colour of gold then I can use the scrap value of your metal and offset it against the cost of new metal. If you would like to incorporate other metals into your finished design alongside your original metal then I would include the cost of any new metals in your quote.
How much does it cost to have your jewellery remodelled?
As each project is different, the final cost will vary. Effectively if you are supplying the precious metal and gemstones then you are only paying for the work to create your new jewellery, however the time it takes to rework metal into the right shape and size for the new design can sometimes make the cost more than if you were to buy a new piece of jewellery although this wouldn‘t bring your sentimental jewellery back to life! I will however always try to work my designs within your budget.
My prices start from £250 for a melt and remodel of a small amount of gold into a simple narrow ring band with no stones. My costs always include labour, hallmarking, packaging and postage if required. Designs for wider bands or those including stone removal and resetting would be more due to the extra labour involved.
What happens to any leftover gold?
This would either be returned to you with your finished piece or I can off set the scrap value against your final payment.
Sounds great, what next!
If this sounds like something you are considering, maybe you have a collection of broken pieces of jewellery or an heirloom ring that has been sat in your jewellery box because it’s not to your taste anymore, why not get in touch via the ‘Contact Us’ page to discuss your remodelling commission. If you would like to find out more about the process of commissioning a bespoke piece of jewellery then head to the ‘Bespoke’ page for more information.