The last thing any jewelry owner wants is to have a beloved piece break while they're wearing it. While this is disheartening, you can recover your jewelry if you take the right steps. What are these? Here is what you should and shouldn't do from the moment of breakage.
1. Collect the Pieces
The first thing to do is to not panic. No matter what the breakage, you will likely have many choices as to how to fix or reconstruct it. But you can't do anything if you don't rescue as much as you can and protect it until you get to a repair shop.
Place all the assorted pieces you find into a sealed container of some kind and make sure it stays closed and sealed so no further damage is done. If any parts seem particularly fragile, wrap these up separately and try to keep them as steady as possible. Avoid touching them or trying to fix them yourself.
2. Try Jewelry Repair First
The first step once you're back at home and ready to address the jewelry is to take it to a repair service. Even if you think it's a lost cause, don't assume that things can't be fixed without consulting with a jewelry repair service.
Did your grandmother's pearls broke, for instance, and you couldn't find all the pieces? They might be re-strung with a few new ones and a shorter strand to make a new version that is very similar to the original. Lost one earring? Don't worry; a high-quality jewelry repair or designer can often recreate the missing earring with impressive accuracy.
3. Consider Re-Purposing
If something really can't be fixed as-is, don't despair. You usually have the option of re-purposing the surviving elements into something else — something that would honor the original item while giving it new life.
That string of pearls might be too far gone to make a necklace, but you could have it restrung into a bracelet or even a pendant necklace and bracelet set. A broken brooch might become a pendant necklace. Individual gems from a broken ring could become the base for a new ring or set of earrings. The possibilities are only limited by your budget and your imagination.
If you act quickly and protect broken jewelry, your choices will be many and varied once you have a professional assess it. Want to know more about the state of a broken item in your collection? Gather it up and take it to a jewelry repair shop like American Jewelers today.
Share