A grandmother's rings in a paper twist
A customer comes in with three rings that belonged to her grandmother. She wants the diamonds taken out and set into a new ring, and the gold used towards the new shank, with any leftover returned or credited. It is a lovely commission, and a very common one.
Once the stones are removed, they are loose in a stone paper. The old gold is in a bag. The new ring needs extra metal. Two small stones turn out to be chipped and cannot be reused. Two months later, handing over the finished piece, the customer asks where the rest of her grandmother's gold went, and whether the stones in the new ring are definitely the originals.
You know the answer. The trouble is showing it.
Why customer materials are hard to account for
Customer stones and metal are unlike shop stock. They are not yours, they change form during the work, and they are often mixed with your own materials. Most records treat the remodel as one job with one description, so the individual stones and the weight of gold are never written down properly.
Loose stones are small and easily confused, especially small diamonds of similar size. Old gold is melted or sent to a refiner, and its weight falls through losses in working that the customer may not expect. Without a weight at intake and a weight at each step, the numbers become a matter of trust.
Remodelling also takes time, and may involve a setter, a caster and a refiner, so the materials move around.
What an informal record costs
| Gap | Result |
|---|---|
| No itemised stone list at intake | Doubt about whether the originals were reused |
| Gold not weighed at intake | Questions about where the metal went |
| Unusable stones not recorded | Customers surprised when some are handed back loose |
| Materials moved to other trades | No trail if something is lost in transit |
| No handover summary | A lovely piece with an uneasy conversation attached |
The emotional stakes are high. This is often jewellery from someone who has died. A clear record is part of treating it with the care the customer expects.
Working losses are the part customers find hardest to understand. Old gold that is cleaned, melted and reworked weighs less at the end than at the start, and solder or alloy added during making changes the picture again. A customer who hears that for the first time at handover can feel something has been taken. The same explanation, given at intake with the weight written down in front of them, is simply part of the process.
The custody record we build
- At intake, each original piece is photographed and weighed, and stones are listed with type, approximate size and any visible damage. The customer signs the list.
- When stones are removed, each gets its own entry and a stone paper or pot label printed with the commission number and stone reference.
- Old gold is logged with its weight and your assessment of fineness from marks or testing. If it goes to a refiner or caster, the send-out and return are recorded.
- As the new piece is made, you record which customer stones went into it, which were not used and why, and any stones or metal the shop supplied.
- At handover, the customer receives a summary: the stones reused, those returned, the metal used and what remained, in plain language, alongside the photos from intake.
- Everything stays on the customer's record, so if the piece comes back for valuation or repair years later, its history is there.
How you value old gold and explain working losses is your policy, and we build the record around it. We do not advise on metal assay or pricing.
Handover, done properly
The customer receives her new ring along with a single page showing the three original rings, the stones listed at intake and a clear account of where each one went. Two small chipped stones are returned in a labelled packet, as recorded weeks earlier.
- Every customer stone listed and labelled from the day it arrives
- Metal weighed and tracked, including trips to casters or refiners
- A clear handover summary the customer can keep
- History that stays with the piece for future work
Signs you need a custody record
- You regularly remodel customers' own jewellery.
- Loose customer stones are kept in papers with handwritten notes.
- Old gold is not weighed and recorded at intake.
- Customers have asked where their stones or metal went.
- Remodelling materials travel to setters, casters or refiners.