Bought over the counter in Cardiff, checked and described honestly, priced on the ticket; we buy too
The pre-owned cabinet
A cabinet by the door of pre-owned and antique pieces bought from people in Cardiff, each one checked, cleaned, repaired where needed and described on its ticket with the metal, the stones and the age as honestly as we can tell. From £45 for a silver piece to a few thousand for a Victorian diamond ring. We buy gold, silver, watches and jewellery over the counter, weighed in front of you.
The cabinet by the door is the part of the shop that changes most. Everything in it came over the counter from someone in Cardiff: an inheritance nobody will wear, an engagement ring from a marriage that ended, a signet from a grandfather's drawer. We check it, clean it, repair what needs repairing, and write what it is on the ticket, including the things that lower the price. People buy from it because a 1920s ring made by hand for £600 is a better ring than a new one for £600, and because it has a story.
Buying: bring in what you have and we weigh gold and silver in front of you and pay the day's rate for scrap, which is on a card on the counter. Jewellery and watches worth more than their metal get an offer as a piece, with the reasoning explained, and you are welcome to take the offer away and think. We do not buy what we have valued on the same visit, and we ask for identification, as the law requires. Payment is by bank transfer the same day.
Selling: each piece in the cabinet is examined and cleaned, its stones checked and tightened, its hallmark read and dated, and anything it needs (a claw, a thin shank, a new clasp) done upstairs before it is priced. The ticket says the metal, the stones, the period as far as we can tell it, and the condition. "Victorian" means we have a hallmark or a construction that says so; "Victorian style" means we do not, and we write which.
A pre-owned ring is resized once free with the purchase, and everything from the cabinet comes with the same twelve-month guarantee on our work as a new piece. Returns within fourteen days for a refund if it is not right; a piece bought as a gift can be exchanged within a month. The cabinet is photographed every Friday and the photographs go on our social pages for people who cannot get to the arcade.
What is included
- Bought over the counter in Cardiff, weighed in front of you
- Checked, cleaned and repaired before it is priced
- The ticket says what it is and what it is not
- One free resize with a ring
- Twelve months on our work
- Fourteen-day returns
What it costs
From £45 for a silver piece; most rings in the cabinet are between £180 and £900; Victorian and Art Deco diamond pieces up to about £4,000. We buy at the day's rate for gold and silver and make offers on jewellery and watches, with no obligation. The repairs page has the full price list with the days each job takes; the bespoke page walks through a commission from the first hour to the hallmark.
Questions about pre-owned
Do you buy gold?
Yes, at the day's rate on the card on the counter, weighed in front of you, paid by transfer the same day. Bring identification. We will tell you if a piece is worth more as a piece than as metal.
Is the pre-owned cabinet online?
Not as a shop. It is photographed every Friday for our social pages, and you can ring about any piece and we will hold it for a week.
Come in with the piece, or book an hour at the table.
Repairs, batteries and the cabinet need no appointment: the counter is open Monday to Saturday, 9:30 to 5:30, in the Royal Arcade. For a bespoke commission, a ring fitting or a valuation, book an hour and we reply within the working day with a time. The price list is on the wall and on here.