Why only on real jewellery?

Giving a little TLC to your jewellery will ensure you can wear it for years to come. But while we offer services that will make your old jewellery look like new, we only offer services for your real jewellery pieces.

It’s not because we think your costume jewellery is not good enough, however. Here, we explain why we only replate, resize, refresh and recycle real jewellery.

Real jewellery is made from precious materials. Precious metals include silver, gold or platinum, and gemstones or semi-precious gemstones.

We also have a handy guide on the differences between fine, demi and high jewellery you can read here.

Costume jewellery is assembly-line made jewellery, made out of non-precious materials, like brass and metal blends, and crystals or non precious stones. And while it can be fun to wear, it’s not made to last.

Non-real jewellery is hard to repair and usually cannot be recycled. The price tag will be lower, but it also means the rough materials are not precious, and aren’t worth much on their own. Precious metals can be recycled, real stones can be recut and reset.

How long your costume jewellery will last depends on what it’s made of and how often you wear it, but its lifespan will always be less than for real jewellery.

At Finematter, we believe jewellery should be able to be passed down and should outlast us. That’s why we only work with jewellers making real jewellery.

Making the jewellery industry as circular as possible is our goal, so of course we offer aftercare services for your jewellery.

It doesn’t have to have been bought through Finematter either, any of your real jewellery pieces which need a little love are welcome.

Our goldsmiths can repair, resize, replate, refresh or even recycle your real jewellery.

When it comes to recycling, your pieces have to be solid gold or sterling silver to be recycled by us.

Real jewellery is made to last forever, but you don’t have to keep it in the same shape. Because real jewellery is made with real stones and gold, silver or platinum, the materials can be reused if you no longer like a particular piece you own.

You can disassemble the mounted stones, melt down the metal (gold or otherwise) and refashion the jewellery into a different piece of jewellery. It’s more sustainable than buying and rebuying assembly-line made jewellery which won’t last long, as it tarnishes and oxidises very quickly.

However, you will also be able to see the signs of age on a piece of real jewellery that’s been worn for decades. This is why we also have refresh and replating services.

The reason real jewellery can tarnish after years is because most of the metals upon which the stones are set are not 100% pure gold or silver. Pure metals are simply too soft to hold gemstones. Jewellery is more commonly made up of 9, 14 and 18 karat gold, which all include a portion of other metal alloys such as brass and nickel. While this makes the metal stronger, it can show wear over time.

But fear not, not only is real jewellery easy to refresh and repair, you won’t need to do anything to it for years - besides a quick, easy clean with warm soapy water, a soft toothbrush and a cleaning cloth.

Sterling silver is 92.5% pure silver mixed with 7.5% copper. The impure nature of the metals mean they can slightly tarnish over time.

Our goldsmith can add a fresh layer of yellow, rose or white gold to any sterling silver or solid gold jewellery.

We can't plate any pieces made of brass, bronze or mixed metals, as they require a lot more work. There's usually a layer of lacquer on them from the first gold plating round.

These types of costume jewellery pieces don't take the new gold layer well, and the results are often not very long lasting.

This is in contrast to jewellery pieces made of either sterling silver or solid gold, which have really great results.

We want our replating service to last for years, so we only accept fine jewellery made of solid gold or sterling silver.

It’s also worth noting that while most stones can be plated, some gemstones may become damaged or discoloured through the plating process. These stones include: pearls, opals, lapis, malachite, moonstones, labradorite and coral.

Replate

Our goldsmith uses a gold plating process called electroplating. Electroplating involves depositing a thin layer of metal onto the surface of an object using electrolysis. During the process, the jewellery is submerged in a gold solution, forming a layer of fresh gold on the surface of the piece.

What’s great is that you’re not stuck with the original metal. If you have fine jewellery you want replated, we can give them a brand new look quite easily.

We can plate your jewellery with a fresh layer of gold, even if it has not previously been gold plated. You can transform your sterling silver jewellery into yellow gold pieces or convert your yellow gold jewellery to rose gold.

Repair

No matter how precious the materials of your real jewellery are, sometimes accidents happen. If something is broken, be it a snapped chain or broken posts, we can fix it for you.

One of the best things about investing in real jewellery is that it can be repaired easily. So there’s no reason not to.

Resize

If you’ve stopped wearing your real jewellery because it not longer fits perfectly, we can help. We can adjust your jewellery to any size, ready for you to wear again.

Refresh

A deep clean may be what’s needed to bring your real jewellery back to life. Again, we can help. While most real jewellery can be easily cleaned at home, older jewellery may need an expert deep clean and specialised polish to bring it back to its former sparkling glory.

Finematter has many jewellers who offer a remodelling service. Taking your real jewellery and making it into a brand new piece, this is a great way to keep the precious materials of your jewellery and remake it into a piece you will actually love and want to wear.

Finematter is on a mission to make the jewellery industry more circular. We offer a recycling service, where you can send us your real jewellery and we’ll give you gold credit in exchange. The precious metal we recycle will eventually be used by our partners to make new jewellery, moving one step closer to a circular jewellery industry. We can recycle any solid gold or sterling silver jewellery.