A Broken Jade Bangle!

Hi Arthur

I have a broken jade bangle and am interested in turning it into a jade gold-plated link bracelet myself.

I’ve inquired with several jewelers who say that the cost of changing it to a link bracelet would cost more than the jade bangle itself and that I should just buy a new one.

I paid a lot for the bangle and would like to fix it. Do you think this is a good idea?

Do you know a company that sells the gold-plated links?

Tina

Hello Tina

In Asian countries ‘mending’ a broken jade bangle with a link bracelet is very common.  The bracelet can be of 22K Yellow gold, 750 white gold, silver or brass and it is not really expensive to do it.

There is a clasp to secure the two ends of the bracelet which can be opened and closed round the waist.  Occasionally a jeweler might drill a hole at the edge of the two broken pieces of jade, that is, 4 small neat holes are drilled.  Each hole can be less than 1mm in diameter to enable a pin to be placed across it to make the link more secured.  But this can be rather expensive and a jeweler may charge you more.

Most of the time the link bracelet embraced the jade bangle tightly and occasionally a jeweler might even used some ‘elephant’ glue to secure it.

Normally most of these link bracelets are custom-made as the diameter of the bangles varies greatly.  There are no ready-made bracelets available.

You should set your bangle as I mentioned above, since you said that your bangle is very expensive and you like it very much.

When you talk with a jeweler, you have to be careful when they recommend something which you do not have in mind.  The jeweler may not be familiar with the bench-work involve, hence, they may recommend you something else which they are familiar with and which can bring them more business.  There is of course a caveat here, most times a jeweler will give professional advice to his/her clients to ensure that the business is of mutual benefit and a jeweler looks forward towards a longer term relationship.

As for the jeweler who mentioned to you that the link bracelet would cost more than the bangle, I opined that he was not really being honest and professional in his role as your jeweler.  The workmanship plus the metal involved in your link bracelet can be ascertained but the value of the bangle to you personally, apart from the monetary value which you have paid for, may not be that easy to appraise.

Try bringing it to another jeweler to do a link bracelet as shown in my picture above.

Have a good day, Tina.

A Arthur Lau

Tags: Broken jade bangle, jadeite jade, yellow gold bracelet

Category: A Broken Jade Bangle!