Restoration and repair
Pieces come back. Some we made; some we have never seen; some have been in a drawer for forty years.
Send us a photograph
Do not clean it. More harm comes to enamel, to gilding and to old ribbon from good intentions and a tin of polish than from a century of being worn. Photograph it, front and back, and send us the photographs. We will tell you what we think it is, what it needs, and whether it needs us at all.
We will look at any piece of ours, whenever it was made. Within twelve months of delivery a manufacturing defect is put right free of charge, and that sits alongside your rights under the Consumer Rights Act rather than instead of them.
Beyond the twelve months we will still look — often for nothing, sometimes for the cost of materials. A piece of ours should last generations, and we would rather see it back here than anywhere else. What that cover does not extend to is ordinary wear, accidental damage, or work done to the piece by somebody else.
We re-ribbon, re-enamel, repair and replace suspenders and fittings, and court-mount groups for wear. Where a star or badge has lost stones or enamel we match what was there rather than what is easiest, which sometimes means making the replacement from scratch.
What we will not do is alter a piece in a way that misrepresents it. We will not add a device that was never awarded, make up a group that was not earned, or turn a copy into something that could be taken for an original.
Our instinct with anything of age is to do less. Wear is part of the record, and a piece polished back to newness has lost something it cannot be given again. Where a piece is stable we will say so and advise you to leave it alone. Where it is deteriorating — enamel lifting, a fitting about to fail, ribbon rotting — we intervene, and no further than necessary.
If a piece is of real historic significance we will say so, and may suggest a museum conservator rather than a jeweller.
A stone from a ring nobody wears becomes something somebody does. This is a commission rather than a repair, and it follows the same path: a conversation, a drawing, and your approval before anything is cut. How a commission works sets out the steps.
Once your piece is in our hands, it is our responsibility. If something we do damages it, that is ours to put right, and we insure accordingly.
Telephone or write before you send anything, so that we know to expect it. Send it by Royal Mail Special Delivery Guaranteed, which is insured and tracked, and declare the value honestly — an under-declared parcel is an uninsured one.
For anything of substantial value, or of a kind that cannot be replaced at any price, do not post it. Bring it in, or ask us and we will arrange a courier. You are always welcome at 1 Buckingham Place by appointment.
How long a repair takes depends on what it needs. Restoration of an older or more damaged piece takes longer than a straightforward one, and we will give you a date rather than an estimate once we have it in front of us.