Articles >About remodeling

About remodeling

Very few designs are timeless and sooner or later ones jewelry goes out of fashion. This is especially true for jewels, inherited form our parents or "in laws". Then in many cases this treasures fill a box that is constantly moved from safe place to safe place and the only time we are reminded about it is when we look at the insurance statement. Then remodeling is due. Another and more correct word is remaking, because the only way to make this jewelry a modern, wearable high end piece is to make a new one. If you have vintage jewelry which is still in good condition, but you don't use it because it is outmoded, it is a good idea to consult estate jewelry specialist before yield it for recycling. You can do this on line by contacting one of the following links:

http://www.langantiques.com/selling-your-jewelry/

http://www.faycullen.com/home_sell.html

Remodeling is using the materials involved in our unwanted pieces in new trendy ones. At this point our old treasures are considered at dead weight value. Because of its nature, on line remodeling is still not a viable option, except in cases of long term, trusted jeweler-customer relationship.

Option 1

To trade in the dead weight value of a piece, means to sell to the jeweler this value for agreed price and then deduct this price from the total of the new quotation before tax.

If the jewelry is not manufactured in the buying house the metal is usually considered for refining which is cutting off about 10% of the metal's value. Because of the time the jeweler have to wait for the refining to be completed after the deal is closed, and to cover unforseen loses in the refining process, another 10% is usually deducted. Dead weight is calculated on the fine gold or platinum content of the alloys traded in, to avoid confusion of different fineness of the metal.

The beauty of this option is that because you will be exchanging value for value, it is not necessary to stick to the karat, color or even the type of the metal you are trading in. Getting the price equivalent 14 kt. white gold or platinum for your 18kt yellow gold pieces should not be a problem.

Stones in the old pieces, not involved in the proposed new design are subject of price negotiation between the jeweler and the client, if the jeweler is interested.

Option 2

If the customer have sufficient metal for the manufacturing of the proposed new design she/he might not be charged for metal whatsoever, providing there is sufficient metal to complete the piece without adding jeweler's metal to it.

Because to produce certain piece the goldsmith requires 60 to 120% more workable metal than the estimated final weight of the piece the customer always ends up with leftover metal.

For example to manufacture a 7 gr. gold ring the goldsmith needs 15 gr.gold bar (supplied by the customer) After the manufacturing the customer has the new ring (7gr) plus 7.3 grams of gold pieces and filings which after the smelting converts to 6.5 gr. workable gold bar. This estimation is made over 10% lost.

It is in fact much simpler than it sounds. You provide all the metal needed for the manufacturing, cover the manufacturing lost and you are not charged any metal cost.

Don't expect though, the jeweler to mix your metal with his and get back the manufacturing excess after that. Most jewelers don't do that and I would certainly not. Different manufacturers use different alloys of metal and often the trade in gold differs in color. Mixing different colors of alloy, although the same fineness, usually results in metal with lifeless color and unpredictable properties. That is why the jeweler will first send the foreign gold to the refinery and then receive back the equivalent in familiar color and guaranteed fineness.

Option 3

Many Jewelry houses are offering to buy your well looked after diamond jewelry, for the price you bough it for, minus small percentage, if you decide to upgrade to a bigger or higher quality stone. Bear in mind though that the trade in pieces have to be purchased form the same jewelry house.