Odd earrings: what to do with the one that is left

In the 1800s a good pair of earrings was built to come apart. In a survey of antique earring styles published by The Jewellery Editor on 18 September 2015, Beth Bernstein describes the Day to Night earring, where the dangling part detached from the top so the top could be worn through the day and the whole earring in the evening. A girandole gave up its 3 drops so the central ornament could be worn on its own. Gold orbs called coach covers were, in her words, "fitted onto hooks to cover diamond drops during the day".

None of that was breakage. It was the design. Worth knowing, if you are standing at a drawer holding a single earring and assuming the missing one has ruined it.

I have made jewellery by hand in London for 22 years, from a stall on Portobello Road to the counters at Liberty, Selfridges, Harvey Nichols and Harrods. A good share of what arrives at my bench now comes in an envelope with a single earring in it.

4 things a single earring can be

1. A pair again. If the design is simple and the metal readable, the second can be made to match. If it is a cast piece with hand finishing, or an old stone cut nobody cuts any more, matching gets harder, and an honest answer beats a hopeful one.

2. A pendant. This is the one people arrive at on their own. The earring already has a front, a back and a weight that hangs. What it needs is a loop in the right place and a chain that suits the drop.

3. A stone, lifted. My Second Life page says it plainly: "I lift the stones, design a new setting around them, and reset them." If the setting is tired, bent or simply not to your taste, the stone is the part that was always worth keeping.

4. 1 piece out of several. Odd earrings rarely travel alone. They sit in a drawer with a broken chain, a ring that does not fit and a stone that fell out of something. As that same page puts it, "Combining a few unworn pieces into one you will actually wear is one of the best things about remodelling."

An earring has never had to be noticed to be doing its job. Bernstein describes Victorian sleepers as small diamonds in a crown setting, "often worn to bed to keep the earlobe hole from closing".

Why the decision is worth taking slowly

Richard Talman, interviewed for Professional Jeweller on 18 August 2021, words by Sarah Carpin, put the difference between new work and restoration plainly. A mistake on something new can be made again. With a family heirloom, he said, "you only have one chance to get it right."

That is why remodelling is quoted individually rather than off a price list, and why nothing should be taken apart before a design exists. The free estimate works from a photograph: a phone snap is enough, I come back with an idea and a cost, and at that stage nothing has been touched. If the metal around the stone is past saving it goes into the recycling route rather than the bin, and earns you a £20 voucher here.

The date, because it is close. For a remade piece to be ready for Christmas, photographs need to reach me by Sunday 1 November. Remodelling has the earliest cut off of anything I make, because the design is agreed with you before any work begins.

If you would rather just replace the pair

The piece I point most people at is the Kaia Initial Pearl Huggies, £125 in recycled 925 sterling silver or in gold or rose gold vermeil, and £450 in 14kt solid gold. A genuine freshwater pearl, an engraved initial, and a hinged closure, which means there is no separate butterfly to set down on the edge of a basin and leave behind. The whole earrings collection is here if a hoop suits you better.

If the earring is going to become a pendant, the chain matters more than people expect. My Chain Guide is blunt about it: the quoted chain lengths do not include the pendant, and an average pendant adds 0.75in to 2in. So a drop you already own changes where a 16in chain actually sits.

2 other ways in. The Shooting Star Necklace is £60 in sterling silver, £70 in gold or rose gold vermeil and £495 in 14kt solid gold. The Cotton Candy Necklace is £75, a solid sterling silver heart finished with hand painted enamel, 9mm by 7mm, engravable on the back and made in 5 chain lengths. A little above them, the Star Pendant Necklace is £80 with a star measuring 2.3cm square, and the Guiding Light Pendant Necklace is £275, a sunstar art deco pendant set with amber, coral, onyx, moonstone, citrine, rose quartz, peridot or jade on a 22in adjustable chain. More stars and moons sit in the Celestial Collection.

But if there is a single earring in that drawer, the drawer is not where the decision gets made. Send me a photo. As the page says, odd earrings, broken chains and single loose stones all count.

The second life is the real one. Anna Lou x.

Questions I get asked

I have lost an earring. Can you make a matching one?

Sometimes, and it depends entirely on the piece. A plain hoop or a simple stud is straightforward. A cast design with hand finishing, or an old stone cut, is harder to match convincingly, and in that case remaking the single earring into something else is often the better buy. Send a photograph and I will tell you honestly which I would do, and what it would cost. The estimate is free and there is no obligation.

Can an old earring be turned into a necklace?

An earring already hangs, which is most of the work. The question is whether the fitting can be removed cleanly, and where the loop should sit so the piece hangs straight. If the stone is the part you love, lifting it and setting it into a new pendant gives more freedom than adapting the old mount. Either way the stone and the metal are yours and they stay yours.

What chain length should a converted pendant go on?

Measure the finished pendant and add it to the chain. Chain lengths are quoted without the pendant, and an average pendant adds 0.75in to 2in, so a 16in chain with a 2in drop sits like an 18in one. My Chain Guide has the bracelet measurements too.