Posted 9 years ago
Peasejean55
(415 items)
This is a Murrle Bennett marked 9ct gold, Garnet and Blister Pearl bracelet.
The bracelet consists of a number of 7mm by 5mm oval panels, alternating between Garnet and Blister Pearls. These oval panels are alternating with gold leaves measuring 7mm square.
On the back there are 2 oval Pearls that haven't a engraved backing plate. At the clasp side there are a Garnet and Blister Pearl together, so there must have been a alteration, the bracelet is to large for me so I'm going to alter it, but it's not going to be easy, any ideas, I don't want to loose any of the engraved plates.
It measures 19cm long
Many thanks for looking.
Many thanks
aghcollect
Pops
Jewels
Antiquehunter
BelleEpoque
Kyra
Very nice piece. I watched the recent auction, you had to fight to get it, well done!
I can see a couple of solutions to shorten it. How many links can you afford to take out?
Many thanks for nice comment kiwipaul. I reckon I could shorten the bracelet by 3 links. I have to keep the Blister pearl next to the clasp because of the safety chain, I want to keep all the engraved backing plates. Any suggestion would be great.
If you can take out 3 links then you can restore it almost perfectly. If you do not already have one, you will need to find a jewellery repair specialist with a laser welder and a sympathy for antique jewellery.
The restoration should not be expensive as it is quite simple. I'll make a little diagram and come back to you soon.
kiwipaul, many thanks :-)
Here is the diagram, it is 300 dpi so you should be able to download and print on one piece of paper: http://theholygrail.com/images/MBbracelet.jpg
PS: The laser welder is very important to this repair. It means the repairs can be done with micro welds and all the pieces in place. This is much quicker than old style gas welding and will not damage the integrity of the piece.
Wow, Kiwipaul what a job you did! You're right with the patina thing, most jewelers will "complete" the restoration with a harsh polish which in their mind make the jewel shine as when it was done... It's like extreme botox or lifting on a 100 years old lady!
Brilliant, that is exactly what I'll do, many thanks kiwipaul, when finished I'll post photo. Luckily I'm in UK at the moment so will go to my local Antique Jeweller, he should able to do this. Yet again, many thanks.
Many thanks Kyra for your comment.
One last little detail to make it perfect. Swap Link 1 (Pearl with cross hatch backing) with Link 12. That way the (slightly different) cross hatch backing will be on the centre link. It will look like it was meant to be. Cheers, Paul
This is beautiful! Be careful and if you do this yourself, try gently with not much effort at all first. Do you make jewelry? If you do you know how easily things can go array. Sometimes the links are too hard, and with this being 9 ct, I'm thinking they will be tough to open, that's when they break.
And when they break, it's not a good thing. You will then have to take it to a jeweler and if they do it right, they'll first have to remove the stone, add the link, replace the stone...it can be costly! I know, It's happened to me before. You may be better off in the long run to take it in to be done.
I so don't mean to be negative here...I just have a bit of experience with this type of thing.
I just read the comments...don't I feel special! lol!!!
I updated the diagram to include the last little detail above. Now the job will be perfect. Look forward to seeing the finished result.
By the way - this is bracelet is a very elegant design. Those gold panels are reminiscent of Archibald Knox's most sophisticated (and sought-after) modernist designs.
Many thanks for wise comment and love shareurpassion. Unfortunately I don't make or repair jewellery. I will let the experts do this job. I hope you have merry Christmas and a prosperous New year
Hi kiwipaul, I did go to the jewellers today, bad day to go full of Christmas shoppers. I shall scan the diagrams you gave me, which are fantastic by the way, and give them to him. Thank you for your great advise and here's hoping you have a very merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.
His brother:
http://www.tademagallery.com/Tad_PHP/Tadema_ImagePage.php?paraSub=6466&dbt=2&xtra=
Many thanks Kyra for link.
Many thanks
artdecogirl
ozmarty
Kiwipaul, I found out my Jeweller in Spain will not touch this bracelet, he says because of the soldering it needs all the stones to be taken out. I wondering if you would agree with this.
Reading the pervious comments I need specialist help.
Hi Peasejean, this is where you need to find a jeweller who specialises in laser welding work. With the laser they can do micro welding where the heat doesn't spread. In the diagram and description I did, all you are doing is rearranging jump rings, which is a perfect application for laser welding.
However using old-school gas welding you must remove all stones, do the welding, and then polish the whole piece (destroying the patina), and then reassemble it.
Try Googling for Laser Welding Jeweller in your local area. The jewellers who do it usually are the more progressive ones, and probably have a website to drum up work. The laser welders are expensive and they need to pay for them by drumming up business.
The really progressive ones sometimes create YouTube videos of jobs they've done, so you may able to track down a good laser jeweller through YouTube.
Good Luck!
Your a Angel, kiwipaul, I'll google it, its a shame that I'm in the UK and the bracelet is in Spain.
Saying that, I'm in the UK for a while, if I find someone I can get the bracelet posted to them, finger's crossed.