Jewellery and Gemstones

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The Gold & Silver Buyer's Handbook by Raffi Katz

The Gold & Silver Buyer's Handbook by Raffi Katz

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The Gold and Silver Buyer's Handbook

Author: Raffi katz

Format: softback, 184 pages

Edition: 2010 (revised 2011)

Publisher: Quicktest

ISBN: 978-0-9512095-3-0

Also available as a download from Amazon, Click here



Part One: Gold and Silver

Purity, Types of Gold, Not Gold, Hallmarking, Testing, Formulae for Calculating Gold Prices, Weights, Gold and Money, Weights and Weighing, Weighing Machines, Valuations, Cleaning and Polishing.

Part Two: Buying and Selling

Where to Sell and How Much to Expect, Jewellers and Scrap Dealers in Person, The All-Purpose High Street Secondhand / Loans Shop, Scrap by Mail and from the Internet, Trade Buyers of Scrap and Bullion, eBay, The Internet, Selling from a Website, Knockers, Travellers & Road Shows, Silver, A Word about Style, Scrap Values, Items Worth More than Scrap, Selling Tips, Buying from Retail Shops, Junk Shops, Antiques Shops, Pawnbrokers, The All-Purpose High Street Secondhand / Loans Shops, Jumble Sales, Garage Sales & Boot Sales, Antiques Fairs & Markets, Mail Order, Auctions, Buying Tips.

BUYING AND SELLING FOR PROFIT: Part Time. Full Time: New Goods, Full Time: Secondhand or Antique Goods, Tips: The Art of Haggling, Avoid Buying Stolen Goods, Registration for Dealing in Secondhand Goods, Internet Auctions and Online Shops, Creating (and selling from) a Website, Taking Money (payment methods), Buying and Selling Bullion, Tax, Futures Trading, Gold Leasing, Price Fluctuations.

Part Three: Useful Information and Fascinating Facts

Foreign Dates & Names on Coins, Pre-Decimal System, Counting Coins by Weight, Rare Coin Dates, Better-than-Gold Bullion Coins, Weights and Purities Charts, Commemorative Medallions, Hallmark Date Letters, Matching Designs on Cutlery, Designs of Chains, More about Paper Money and Gold Money, Calibrating Weighing Machines, About Testing Acids, Gemstones and Gem Testers, Testing and Buying Diamonds, Rates Survey, Birthstones, Useful Contacts, PPS for Credit Cards, Conversions.


The book started when I worked at a jewellery shop specialising in scrap and bullion. From the very first day, I started making lists and charts: details of how to calculate scrap prices quickly, lists of coins and medallions, notes about how I had mistaken non gold items for gold.

This new edition contains the latest hallmark charts (including international marks), reviews of gold testers, and the latest information about trading in secondhand goods, weights & measures, and selling on the internet. Also: how to clean silver using a simple chemical reaction; how to check a weighing machine; advice about handling testing acids; details of the best places to sell gold and how much money to expect; how to buy and sell for profit.


A very useful and comprehensive reference tool for anyone involved in buying, selling or trading in precious metals.
Marie Brennan, The Birmingham Assay Office

I think it's great that someone has picked up all those eclectic bits of information that have taken years to accrue and wrapped them into one small but perfectly formed package, it will save a lot of beginners a lot of time. We have started running a course for the many scrap dealers entitled ' Buying Precious metals & how to avoid the Pitfalls' covering what appears to be just about everything that is in this book.
Dave Merry, Head of Assay Office Training, The London Assay Office

A good reference, it answers the questions that an aspiring gold dealer would want to ask, very simple straight forward language, very easy to understand, not over-complicated, a must-buy for both the novice and the serious dealer.
Michael Bloomstein, Bullion Dealer

A really fascinating book. I am doing the JET 1 course and am using the book as a reference guide, I have read the book twice and have already used it in a few assignments. Very informative, has definitely helped develop my knowledge of Hallmarks, testing, and where to buy is very interesting, brilliant! Rebecca T. Student
A mine of useful information for the experienced or indeed the novice serious about dealing in precious metals. I have been involved in the jewellery trade for over 30 years and once I started reading this book I just could not put it down.
Michael Murphy, Baird & Co.

A must-read for all those who buy or sell gold or silver. The amount of information in this book is staggering, answers nearly all the questions you may have on buying Gold and Silver plus much more.
Cookson Precious Metals

I would describe this book as the Jeweller's Bible. All the information you need on testing and weighing gold & silver in an easily understood and detailed guide.
Bridget, Lynco




The Identification of Sheffield Plate

The Identification of Sheffield Plate

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The Identification of Sheffield Plate

Full title:
The Identification and Dating of Sheffield Electroplated Wares 1843-1943

Author: E R MATHEAU-RAVEN

Format: hardback, 230 pages

Edition: 1997


Electroplate
Base Metals
Dating Clues
Makers' Marks
Appendix


Present an 'expert' with a sliver plated item and he will probably examine it in great detail before pronouncing the obvious, "It's silver plated"...when what YOU want to know is: how old is it and who made it and when did they trade and what else did they make, and did they have any other marks and trade names? The answers are in this book.




Tardy Book of International Hallmarks

Tardy Book of International Hallmarks

Ref: TARDY


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Tardy Hallmark Book
(the official name is International Hallmarks on Silver collected by Tardy)

Author: Tardy

Format: softback, 540 pages

Edition: 2005


World silver production, cleaning, alloys, monthly prices.

There are 381 pages of marks by country (alphabetically) and also 94 pages of marks in picture order, e.g. your mark is a castle, you go to the page of castle-pictures.


This is the standard book of silver marks for the world. The section in picture-order is very clever, since you will not necessarily know which country to look up! Please note this is the English version, usually this book can only be found in French.




Both silver marks books together

Both silver marks books together

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Gem Identification Made Easy

Gem Identification Made Easy

Ref: GEM-ID


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Gem Identification Made Easy

Author: Antoinette Matlins and A C Bonanno

Format: hardback, 360 pages

Edition: 2010


Setting up the lab, proper lighting for gem identification.

Essential instruments, what they are and how to use them: the Loupe, the Chelsea filter, the dichroscope, the ultraviolet lamp, the refractometer,
the Microscope.

Optional instruments, when and how to use them: the spectroscope, the polariscope, the diamond-type spotter and blue diamond tester, essential tools for diamond buyers, the immersion cell, the electronic diamond tester, the carbide scriber, the synthetic diamond tester.

Antique and Estate jewellery; Appendices



A serious book about identifying gemstones, written by two professional gemmologists.

Rather than work through a list of gemstones, there's a brief introduction to gemmology, then a list of gem testers, describing their features and limitations. The result is a complete set of instruction manuals for gem testers, a guide to the principles behind them...and by the time you've finished, you should be able to identify hundreds of gemstones.




Gemstones by Keith Wallis

Gemstones by Keith Wallis

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Gemstones
Understanding, Identifying, Buying

Author: Keith Wallis

Format: hardback, 160 pages

Edition: 2011


Introduction: What constitutes a gemstone? Technical terms and how gems are identified. Basic gemmological instruments.

History, Myths and Legends

Precious stones [diamonds plus 58 common gemstones, including organic gems]

Jewellery. Buying Gemstones. Gemstones Around the World. Gems on the Internet. Appendices.


A good basic book in a traditional format: a short introduction to gemmology, then the main gemstones described (their history plus nice colour photographs).

I would recommend this to all those who ask me for, "A simple book that just gives an idea about gemstones and what they look like". For the serious reader it also has a good introduction to gemmology.




Both Gem books together

Both Gem books together

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Gem Identification Made Easy, £23.50
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Practical Jewellery Repair

Practical Jewellery Repair

Ref: BK-PJR


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Practical Jewellery Repair

Author: James Hickling

Format: hardback, 192 pages

Edition: 1987

Retail price is £14.99, our price is £7.50


Workshop layout and equipment
Processes and materials
Basic techniques
General repairs (rings)
Making a ring
Wrist ware
Repairs to brooches
Some unusual jobs and how to tackle them
Workshop security
Jewellers' guide to gemstone handling


I am really quite impressed with the scope and clarity of this book, though you will still have to learn to solder, to cut cleanly with a piercing saw, to file and twist neatly…etc. But if you DO have talent in these areas, this is the book you need to channel your skills into jewellery repair.




Jewellery Making for Profit

Jewellery Making for Profit

Ref: BK-JMFP


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Jewellery Making for Profit

Author: James Hickling

Format: hardback, 175 pages

Edition: 1995

Retail price is £16.99. our price is £7.50


Workshop and equipment: polishing machine, rolling mill, grinder, drill press, guillotine, pinfold sizer, bench vice, fly press, lathe.

Materials: steel (hardening and tempering), copper (planishing, punching, engraving).

Speeding up production: (including machines you can buy, adapt or make yourself).


This is not a 'learn to hand-make jewellery' book (which takes years to learn), neither does it expect you to spend several thousand pounds setting up a high-tech. workshop. Instead, it treads a fascinating middle ground: tools you can make or adapt yourself; how to make badges, brooches, bangles, rings etc by the hundred; how to produce small components by the thousand. It is full of invaluable advice for those who want to produce jewellery in quantity, whether to sell to friends or from a market stall or to local shops or even by mail.




Both jewellery books together, bk-pjr + bk-jmfp

Both jewellery books together, bk-pjr + bk-jmfp

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Jewellery Making for Profit by James E Hickling, 1995, hardback, 175 pages, retail £16.99
with
Practical Jewellery Repair by James Hickling, 1987, hardback, 192 pages, retail £14.99

Our price for both books togehter, £10.00

See previous two items for contents, reviews etc.




Pocket Fruit Knives by Simon Moore

Pocket Fruit Knives by Simon Moore

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Pocket Fruit Knives

Author: Simon Moore

Format: hardback, 288 pages

Edition: 2008


A brief history of pocket and fruit knives in Europe up to 1650
Early French pocket fruit knives
Evolution of English pocket fruit knives to 1770
The 'Pistol=grip' period: 1170-1790
The Golden Age: 1790-1815
Later Regency to pre-Victorian, Rocco and neo-classical re-visited 1815-1837
The extravagance of the Victorian period1837-1890 & later French pocket fruit knives
The declining years: 1890-1940
Pocket fruit knives from other countries
Collecting, construction, pitfalls, fakery and faults
Pocket fruit knives, list of makers, references & further reading


On one level this is a glorious picture book detailing the history of the fruit knife from the 1650s to the 1960s; on another level it is a guide for any collector or dealer showing the varying styles through the ages, including sponsors' marks, hallmarks and values.

So the next time you find 'an old penknife' or an 'interesting item of cutlery' check to see if it is an old fruit knife, and research its age, maker and value.




Hallmark Book by Jacksons

Hallmark Book by Jacksons

Ref: hmk-jack


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Jackson's Hallmarks, pocket edition
English, Scottish, Irish silver and gold marks

Author: Ian Pickford

Format: softback, 176 pages

Edition: 2011


Understanding Hallmarks

Date letters and makers' marks for England, Scotland and Ireland (from 11 Assay Offices)

English Provincial Marks, Scottish Provincial Marks, Irish Provincial Marks,


Cycles of hallmarks (date letters) and makers' marks for all of England, Scotland and Ireland, as marked at the Assay Offices of London, Birmingham, Chester, Dublin, Edinburgh, Exeter, Glasgow, Newcastle, Norwich, Sheffield and York.

This is the standard reference book for dating items from 1300 to 2011.

They call this the 'pocket' version because it is pocket-size; the original is large (it weighs 3Kg). Despite the small size of this edition, it contains 15,000 marks.




Metal Techniques for Craftsmen by Oppi Untracht

Metal Techniques for Craftsmen by Oppi Untracht

Ref: METALTECH-BK


Price: £25.00

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A standard text book about metalworking, hardback, 512 pages, nearly 2Kg.

Contents




Gemmologists' Compendium (CLEARANCE)

Gemmologists' Compendium (CLEARANCE)

Ref: bk-gem-com


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A classic dictionary of gemmology including colour photographs and gem-testing. Hardback 240 pages, one only.




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