1 /5 S J: I brought in a very valuable 130 year old gold bracelet for repair. A tiny safety chain had broken and the link needed to be re-soldered.
The jeweler refused to give me a ticket and said that I had to trust to get the bracelet back based solely on his reputation. It was a very unusual experience and in my opinion very unprofessional. I cant imagine why he wouldnt give a delivery receipt unless he wants to be able to disavow responsibility should he damage or lose a piece of jewelry. But I was short on time so I left the bracelet for repair.
The work was very ammatteurish. The soldering looked like it was done by a hack - someone without any experience. 1/2 of the bracelet was polished and in doing so, the 130 year old patina was wiped out - please see the attached photo. It looks like two bracelets (a new bracelet and an antique bracelet) have been fused together. It is such a shame - we will have to wait another 130 years for the bracelet to return to its normal state - if it ever does. We will check with our great-grandchildren!
On second look, there are some deep gouges that appear to be file marks - it looks like he filed the site of the weld before starting the work - perhaps this is why the extreme polishing, to remove the scratches? See the work and decide for yourself (the chain mount on the right in the picture).
In addition, despite that this is a gold piece of jewelry, it appears that the jeweler has used silver solder and corrosion has begun to appear at the solder point. Such a shame that a beautiful piece that has survived all these years, wars, and migrations, to be disfigured by a hack.
We since changed to a competitor jewelry repair shop and have had good experiences with the competitor.
