What happens when jewellery repair goes wrong?

Letting go of a treasured piece of jewellery, full of stories, to have it repaired can be a big deal. How can you be sure your treasured memories are in safe hands and what if something goes wrong?

Each piece of jewellery carries its own unique story and the repair process is as unique as each story. If you're having a piece of jewellery repaired, find a jeweller who will be happy to explain the whole process to you.

I see a lot of jewellery that has been previously repaired by other jewellers. When something has gone wrong, it's not usually the practical skill that was the problem. It's usually because something hasn't been communicated. Either the customer didn't quite understand the risk, or there was a certain aspect of the jewellery that was important to the customer but the jeweller was completely unaware of it.

It's very rare that something goes wrong and it's completely unexpected.

Working with the unexpected

Here’s a real-life story of what happened for Jo.

Jo had a number of pieces she wanted me to repair. One ring stood out as requiring a bit more thought. It was a gold enamel ring, with a flower and little grey diamonds set into the enamel. However, the enamel was very worn.

In this case, I took extra care to understand the type of enamel used, consulting with my enamel specialist to ensure the best possible result.

Jo wanted the ring to look as new as possible, so we discussed the options to achieve this. With the enamel missing on the shoulders of the ring, and the gold very worn, it would need to be engraved so that the enamel had a ‘pool’ to sit in. However, because of the age of the ring and the thickness of the band, it became clear that the risk to the ring outweighed the benefit, since the enamel might not stay in place for all that long anyway.

Together, Jo and I decided to focus on preserving the heart of the ring, the centrepiece, and leave the shoulders as they were.

But then...

What I hadn’t anticipated was the use of lead solder deep inside the ring. Lead is no longer used in jewellery due to its harmful effects, but it was occasionally used until the 1950s. I had never come across a ring before with lead deep inside the ring itself with no signs on the outside, so when it went inside the kiln for re-enamelling, the result was a complete mess.

As I pondered the options, I realised salvaging the ring would not benefit anyone wearing it, since they would likely still have lead against their skin. Removing as much lead as possible would make it so thin, that it wouldn’t last long at all.

So I spoke to Jo and shared my thoughts, which gave her two options. Either I would transform the ring into a pendant, or the repair would be completely shelved. Naturally, I wouldn’t charge for the work that had gone wrong.

Rescuing an heirloom redesign

We settled on the pendant idea, but I needed to find a way to create it without applying any heat at all. Even laser welding, which is often the safer option, was ruled out here, as lead makes the most enormous bang when the laser hits it.

Instead, I found a way to use the remaining gold from the ring band (the part without the lead) to create a setting for the centrepiece from the ring to sit in, like setting a gemstone.

Ruth has been great at advising me what to do with various old pieces of jewellery, and has repaired several items. One of the repairs did not go quite to plan; Ruth had explained right at the start that there was a risk with repair work, and as soon as she discovered an issue she informed me immediately. Her communication throughout was faultless, and she discussed various options for the repair. In the end, she salvaged the decorative part of the ring and re-purposed it into a beautiful pendant. I now have some lovely pieces of jewellery that can be worn rather than sitting around being unloved! Jo (review from Google)

In the end, the result was better than either of us expected. Jo was thrilled to gift the ring (now necklace) to her daughter, who actually preferred wearing necklaces anyway. So, while the repair went very wrong, Jo received an heirloom redesign service at a fraction of the normal cost.

Committed to the best repair

I don’t have a blanket policy for when repairs occasionally go wrong, but I am committed to turning a bad situation around. On a professional level, I have a disclaimer in place which clients agree to before work starts, but that’s just for protection. Instead, I go out of my way to turn things around when the unexpected.