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Many people have at least one piece of old jewellery, often handed on within the family. Such brooches, earrings, bracelets and so on may be good of their type, but because they are unfashionable or damaged in some way they are neglected and remain at the bottom of the jewellery box. This book aims to encourage readers to take them out for a closer look and to help them understand the fine craftsmanship many of these pieces represent. All types of jewellery are described and illustrated, from rings to cufflinks and tiepins, and their characteristics are explained. The traditional methods, decorative techniques and tools used by the jewellers and goldsmiths are detailed through easily understood drawings. Gold, silver and platinum are discussed, as well as the properties of the principal gemstones and the ways in which they are cut and set. A chapter on hallmarks gives a guide to marks as they are used on gold and silver jewellery.

Duncan James is a jewellery designer and craftsman with workshops near the Welsh border in Herefordshire. He has made a detailed study of the history of bronze statue casting and was for some years a visiting lecturer in sculpture at Stowe School. More recently he has been recording vernacular buildings in Herefordshire, establishing a substantial archive, and he now lectures widely on the subject of historic buildings. His publications include A Century of Statues - a History of the Morris Singer Foundry (1984); an essay on nineteenth century statue founding for the catalogue of the Alfred Gilbert Exhibition at the Royal Academy (1986); Old Typewriters (Shire, 1993); and An Investigation of the Orientation of Timber Framed Houses in Herefordshire (Vernacular Architecture, 2004).