About BJH Goldsmith

A Goldsmith designs and makes jewellery, including jewellery with precious and semi-precious stones. Which may involve the cutting, filing, hammering, turning, spinning bending and casting of precious metals. And a jeweller sells jewellery and if needs be sends items to be worked upon to a Goldsmith. Unless they have one on site already.

Firstly, a little bit about myself and my business, and how it all came about. During Covid when I wanted a ring repaired due to the shank breaking, I went into a jeweller and was quoted what I felt was a little too much for such a small repair.

It was at this point that I decided to undertake my own repair as I had undertaken an apprenticeship in the late seventies in Manchester. This was before moving into a different field of work. After purchasing the necessary small amount of equipment, I completed the repair, subsequently going on to do repairs and alterations in my local area mostly for friends and family. Before turning my previous experience and ideas into a business. The rest as they say is history.

So here I am, 2020 seems such a long time ago. I am now a sole trader working from a small workshop here on the Isle of Wight. I have a fully equipped workshop where I repair, alter, and make bespoke items upon request (time permitting). I am also a registered Goldsmith with the Birmingham Assay Office and as such have my own Hallmark and Logo, so anything I make from scratch (bespoke) is sent to Birmingham assayed for quality of the precious metal and Hallmarked.

I also sell pre-Loved items of Jewellery which have been re-furbished to a high standard which can also be altered if required at time of purchase. This of course cuts out the need for you the customer to arrange adjustment. It’s much nicer to be able to open the box and know that the ring or other items is/are ready to go.

You will find within a Gold Section, Silver Section, Masonic Section, and a section which I call “for the person who has everything” I shall go into these sections in more detail later on. As well as pre-loved I also sell on occasion New Old stock once again at a price reflecting this. So from Antique through Vintage up to New and Bespoke, you will find everything within.

Your pre-loved jewellery comes with an assurance of structural integrity and quality, pre-loved jewellery is just as good if not better than the modern-day equivalent which in my experience is usually of lesser quality. Pre-loved is often made better and often using old techniques and skills long forgotten.

Not only is it cheaper due to not having such large mark-ups, after all who doesn’t like saving money? It is also saving the planets valuable resources. Furthermore, you will be able to hand down Antique or Vintage items to your family or loved ones if you so desire.

Most people cannot tell the difference between a new piece of jewellery and a pre-loved piece of jewellery. I always say “it does not matter if it is made of 100-year-old gold or modern-day gold. IT IS STILL GOLD!”! If it has been re-furbished correctly and any defects repaired, it will still be a fine piece of jewellery. Just at times cheaper.

Let us not forget that we are all unique and have our own styles whether you are old school looking for a specific time, place and memory, or just starting out but wishing to have a certain style whether it be from this century or the last, pre-loved can help you achieve your style goal.

Nowhere else in the world are consumers more highly protected than in the UK. The UK is one of only a few countries in the world that have compulsory statutory hallmarking. This means that every item sold as precious metal, ie gold, silver, platinum or palladium must have been tested and hallmarked by an independent third-party Assay Office to guarantee that the precious metal is of the fineness stated.

The law applies to everything made and SOLD in the UK. The only exemptions are items which fall beneath the specified weight thresholds which are 1 gram for gold, 7.78 grams for silver, 0.5 grams for platinum and 1 gram for palladium. (Exert taken from Birmingham Assay Office) Website. The full Legislation can be found online. Please note that there are certain exemptions which will be shown if relevant to an item.

Anyone can buy a stamp which says 3.75 (9ct gold) or 925 (sterling silver) and hit it with a hammer into the metal of your jewellery. And the vast majority who do this are genuine. But without elaborate testing kit how will you know. Hence why hallmarking is so important to protect you the purchaser.