Since working for a jeweller I have seen many old and sometimes neglected wedding rings come through the door to be repaired. Years of everyday wear tend to reduce protruding details of the pieces such as claws and delicate filigree.
Unfortunately for my lovely mum, her fifteen year old eternity band was in a bit of a state as hand making ceramics is not all that compatible with her desire to wear fine jewellery. Clay is a dusty material and the tiny little particles seemed to be wearing away at the surface of her glasses and her jewellery at a fast rate. Luckily I was up to the challenge of repairing the jewellery but maybe not the glasses.
The piece came to me missing diamonds and slightly squished. On closer inspection with a jeweller’s loupe, my jewellery friend Kristy and I were astonished to see that even though it was bought as a new ring, it had already been reshanked (a new band had been attached) and was falling apart so badly that it wouldn’t have lasted much longer.
I had two options with this piece; I could try to salvage the remaining ring that, given the state of it, would probably still fall apart later or remake the whole thing to the same design. Considering that she works with her hands so much, Mum decided that she would have the ring remade using slightly thicker gold to make it more durable.
