I fell properly in love with antique jewellery at 18 when my nan took me to our local antique jewellers for my 18th present 

I was in awe of all the beautiful pieces stacked high on the shelves 

I was instantly drawn to the individuality of the pre-loved pieces particularly the older ones 

I left the store with a beautiful pair of Ruby and Diamond antique studs- I still have them today and however much styles change I still find myself reaching for them

I know some people aren’t big fans of antique jewellery.

It has a bit of a reputation as being old-fashioned, worn, boring but trust me it is the complete opposite

When you fall in love with your first pre-loved piece you’ll never look back 

THE CRAFTMANSHIP 

More often than not nowadays jewellery is mass produced

Don’t get me wrong there are some gorgeous individual jewellers who make beautiful, intricate, time-consuming pieces but they are few and far between 

To keep costs down and sadly to maximise profits, big jewellery producers often outsource manufacturing to cheaper labour countries 

Machines wouldn’t have been available to craftsman when many of our pieces were made 

So every cut of stone, every ornate detail on the gold and every setting would have to have been done by hand- this makes our pieces just exquisite and unique 

Because of this every single one of our pieces is different even if two pieces have similar characteristics when you look closely you will see many differences 

HISTORY

By buying pre-loved you are buying into a little bit of history 

By definition someone has worn your piece before, it has travelled to many places, been to many dinners and events and seen things we can  only imagine 

I love to think of the previous life my jewellery has lived 

I love to think about who owned this, why did they buy it, what was their life like 

This added element of history gives character to your ring 

By buying our pieces, you are weaving yourself into the history of your gem

SUSTAINABILITY 

To finish I wanted to mention the BIG benefit of buying pre-loved… it is so much more sustainable 

All our pieces are pre-loved,

Our bespoke range, takes broken or old-fashion jewellery and changes them into contemporary wearable pieces. In this range there will be elements of new jewellery however the main part of the piece will always be a heritage piece

This means all our pieces are already in circulation so there’s no totally new jewellery being produced 

Mass producing new jewellery in one country and then shipping across the world to sell in another country is damaging to the environment 

Furthermore mining for new gemstones or using vast amounts of pressure to produce new diamonds further adds to the pressure on the environment

By buying pre loved you are more consciously consuming by choosing jewellery that is already in circulation but with loads of love still to give 

I hope Junkyard Gem can convert you into a pre-loved jewellery addict like me

*You can shop our full selection of rings here