Inherited jewellery: what damages an old piece, and when to have it checked
The trade uses 3 words for old jewellery and they do not mean the same thing. Antique means more than 100 years old. Vintage means more than 20 years old. Estate means any piece that formed part of somebody's estate, which can be a Victorian brooch or a chain bought in 2019. Those definitions come from a care guide written by Annie Button for The Jewellery Editor on 1 October 2019, and they are worth knowing before you decide how to handle what has just been handed to you.
I have made jewellery by hand in London for 22 years. It started on a stall on Portobello Road and the work has sold since through Liberty, Selfridges, Harvey Nichols and Harrods. A good share of what arrives at my bench was made by somebody else, a long time ago.
The claws give way before the stone does
An old ring almost never loses its stone without warning. It loses a claw first. The same article quotes the jeweller Harry Diamond of Cry for the Moon, who says the claws around a stone deteriorate over time, and that a workshop can find weaknesses that are not visible to the eye and then re-tip or rebuild them. His advice is that valuable pieces are checked and cleaned at least once a year, to avoid unnecessary breakage.
Once a year is not a lot, and the thing at stake cannot be replaced. If an inherited ring is in daily wear, that is the most useful habit to pick up. Home cleaning is possible, the same article says, but certain gemstones and metals want a specialist.
Water is what most people get wrong
The guidance is blunt: never wear antique jewellery in water. Not swimming, not in the bath. Pool and hot tub chemicals and sea salt can damage and discolour metals and some gemstones, and an old setting holds a stone less tightly than a new one.
Order of dressing matters too, and it costs nothing. Jewellery goes on last. Make-up, deodorant, hairspray and perfume go on first and are given time to dry. Hair is brushed before earrings and necklaces go on, not after. Most damage to an old piece is snagging and chemistry rather than drama.
Keep them apart
The storage rule worth following is that antique pieces are never stored together, whether that is loose in a jewellery box or back in their original packaging. They break, chip and tangle against each other. Each piece gets its own box or its own compartment. Keep them somewhere cool and dry and out of direct sunlight, which tarnishes metal, and away from heat, which can crack stones such as opals.
The piece you have already decided not to wear
Some of it is not going to be worn again. The same guide ends on that: where a piece is beyond repair, its metals and stones can be recycled into a new design. That is the whole of my Second Life service. I lift the stones, design a new setting around them, and reset them. Inherited rings, loose gemstones, old diamonds, broken chains and odd earrings are all remade by hand in my London studio. Send me a photo and I will tell you what it could become and what it would cost. The estimate is free and there is no obligation.
1 date, if you are thinking about Christmas: send me your photos by Sunday 1 November. Remodelling has the earliest cut off of anything I make, because the design is worked out with you before any work starts. If the piece is an inherited ring you cannot get on, the ring size guide is the place to start. If it is silver or hallmarked gold you have no use for, recycling it gets you a free postage label and a £20 voucher.
What I would wear alongside something old
The Circle Token Bracelet is £150 in sterling silver, gold vermeil or rose gold vermeil, and £1,200 in 14kt solid yellow or white gold. The cut through circles are engraved with initials, and you choose the colour of the discs and the chain. Its own care note says the same as everything above: keep it dry, away from perfume and harsh chemicals, and wear it, because wearing a piece is what keeps the surface bright.
A piece kept in a drawer for best is not being protected. It is being forgotten, and forgotten is how a clasp seizes and a claw goes unnoticed. Everything in solid gold is made to be worn hard.
2 other ways in. The engraved disc charm is £25 in sterling silver, £30 gold plated and £35 rose gold plated, hand engraved in the workshop with 1 initial. The Name Disc Necklace is £60 across all 9 options, a 15mm disc on a cable chain in 3 lengths, engraved with up to 7 characters. Further up, the Delicate Solid Gold Chain Bracelet is £285, a fine belcher chain with hollow links so it stays light enough for every day, and the Hepburn Necklace is £295 in sterling silver, gold filled or rose gold filled, built around an irregular freshwater pearl. More of both sits in the Christmas gift guide.
The second life is the real one.
Send me a photo of whatever is sitting unworn in that box. Start here. Anna Lou x.
Common questions
How often should inherited jewellery be checked?
The advice from the trade is at least once a year for anything valuable, and more often if it is worn daily. A jeweller is looking for thinning claws, a worn clasp and a chain that has stretched where it rubs. These are cheap to put right while they are small faults and expensive once a stone has gone.
Can I wear my grandmother's ring every day?
Often yes, as long as it has been looked at first and you take it off for water, cleaning products and the gym. If it does not fit, have it sized rather than wearing it loose, and use the ring size guide to work out where you are starting from. If the setting is too fragile for daily life, the honest answer is to reset the stones into something built for it.
What happens to a piece that cannot be repaired?
Nothing in it is wasted. The stones come out and go into a new setting, and the gold is recycled. If there are no stones and you simply want the metal to go somewhere useful, send it in for recycling, which needs silver stamped 925 or gold that is hallmarked, and comes back as a £20 voucher.