At Trumpet & Horn it would be an understatement to say that we are obsessed with all things vintage. We think the notion that a tangible piece of history can be loved over and over again makes for an extremely romantic narrative. How can you make a precious stone even more precious? Love it for generations to come! Our affinity for vintage jewelry drive us to scour the world for beautiful rings that can become part of your family's history and traditions.
It's very common for jewelry to need a bit of restoration work by our talented jeweler before we offer it for sale. After all, most of our pieces are over 100 years old! For example, the gorgeous Victorian cluster ring, Talmadge Hill, had an extremely worn shank when we found it. The Old European Cut diamond cluster top remained in great shape, so we had our jeweler create a custom shank that echoed the Victorian style and maintained the vintage integrity of the ring. When work is done by our team to a vintage piece, we happily celebrate it and make note of it in the product description.
Sometimes our jewelry buying team finds other jewelry that we think would make a stunning engagement ring. In fact it is very common for us to find earrings that could be easily imagined as rings. This is because many vintage rings were actually turned into a pair of earrings during their lifetime! Of course it's impossible for us to say with certainty what has happened to a ring during its long history without documentation, but our team is excellent at estimating when a piece was originally crafted and if it has been modified. When we change or improve a pice of jewelry, we always disclose that information to our customers and, in fact, we LOVE being able to reuse and repurpose a small piece of history for modern times!
It's not just earrings that can be re-imagined as rings! Our team believes that the Art Nouveau ring, Herringbone, was originally created as an ornate necklace clasp and then reconfigured into a unique ring during the 1930s.
Some of our favorite vintage Trumpet & Horn rings were originally stick pins. Stick pins became a popular fashion accessory during the early 19th century as a way for English gentlemen to secure their neckties in place. They soon became favored by both men and women, exhibiting ornate designs and colored gemstones. The repurposed stick pin rings in our collection are some of our most unique, whimiscal and delicate pieces. We just can't get enough of them!
Whenever we modify a piece of vintage jewelry in any way — be it through ring sizing or reshanking — we are careful to use the utmost precision and care. All of our repairs are done by hand by our master jeweler. When a repair requires the addition of metal, we use completely vintage metal, melted down from pieces of old, broken jewelry. Check out this awesome shot our owner took of old gold jewelry being melted down:
We fully understand the importance of maintaining authentic vintage integrity in our jewelry and paying homage to the incredible artistry required to create a beautiful ring. With every sale, it is our hope that our vintage jewelry finds a new family to bestow love and treasured recollections upon. ♥
