BLING

Yesterday we went to the Jewellery Quarter. I haven’t been able to wear my wedding and engagement rings for quite a while so we’d decided to have them melted down and a new single ring made. I wasn’t sure what design I wanted but there are lots of manufacturing jewellers in this area so it seemed like the ideal place to start.

I wasn’t impressed with the first shop we went in. The sales girl couldn’t grasp the concept of what I wanted to do, although she assured me they could do it, said I didn’t have enough gold in the two rings to make one ring and that it would take over 2 weeks and cost around £250. She didn’t fill me with any confidence so we trolled round all the other shops in the area. After an hour I’d had enough and was just about resigned to giving up and coming home when the last shop we went into was totally different.

It was a large shop and we could see two jewellers working behind a glass screen. The sales girl was friendly but not pushy and when I found a couple of rings that were almost exactly what I had in mind the jeweller, Nigel, came out to discuss it with us.  I was amazed when he said he could do the job while we waited and we could watch every stage to be sure it was our gold and diamond he was using. You know that feeling you get when everything just seems right? 

He started off by removing the diamond and melting both rings together, on the counter in front of us, using a portable oxy-acetylene torch.

It felt really strange watching the rings that I’ve worn since our wedding 34 years ago disappear into a puddle of red hot metal.

The next stage was to make the gold into a bar which he could then work into a ring 

ready to tension mount the stone so it would be flush with the surface of the gold.

The finished article - the photos don't do it justice.

It was exactly what I wanted and took just over an hour to make during which time we’d been plied with drinks and offers of cake and generally been made to feel like valued customers.  I got him to do a couple of other little jobs, repairing my earrings and resizing and polishing Roger’s wedding ring and have commissioned him to make me a pendant using some scrap gold we’d accumulated over the years, you know the stuff, single earrings, broken chains etc.

And the bill?  To make the ring and do the repairs he only charged us £85.  It was a very pleasant, stress free experience and we’ll be using him again. It was only when we got talking to him properly after he’d done all the work that we discovered it was his shop and the lovely sales girl was his daughter. It just goes to show what I’ve always said…..family firms are always the best for service and value.

If you ever need good quality jewellery I can really recommend Nigel Lynall Jewelley. They are open every day except Monday.