Blog: buying jewellery online – insider guide

We think it’s time to embrace the word recycled. Recycled used to mean toilet paper – rough toilet paper! These days recycled means ideal, sustainable and noble.

As a company, we have been recycling fine jewellery since 2011. We buy items made by distinguished jewellery houses like Cartier and Tiffany & Co. We then service and polish the items so that they look new or nearly new. Our engagement rings are always sold in “Proposal Ready” condition which means what is says!

As we do not support manufacturing at its source – our items are already made and do not require much in the way of additional resources. We are practically carbon neutral!

Pre-owned, second hand, recycled used to mean second best. We think that idea has been turned upside down. As we all seek to make the planet a better place to live we must embrace recycling in all its forms whether it’s paper or jewellery.

We are proud to sell recycled fine jewellery and we think you’ll be proud to wear it.

Cartier as investment? Can we expect that our Cartier jewellery purchases will increase in value?

Since its founding in 1847 the Cartier name has been synonymous with luxury. "Cartier is the King of Jewellers and the Jewellers of Kings" said Edward VII, more than 100 years ago. A brand with such fine pedigree, standing the test of time for more than 150 years should be looked at with more seriousness than just a purveyor of fine jewellery.

We have found that since Bloomsbury Manor began in 2011 the price of pre owned Cartier jewellery has markedly increased. We are looking at rises of 20-30% particularly across collectors pieces such as Panthere, C de Cartier, Bamboo and Trinity. There are more modest increases from the more well known Love collection. The slightly rarer collector's pieces are more rare and demand is strong from people wanting to invest in a piece which is both wearable and likely to increase in value. The Panthere range has been fashionable since the 1930s, King Edward VIII's consort The Duchess of Windsor was a keen fan. The collection has never been out of fashion as far as we are aware! C de Cartier, Trinity and Bamboo have all evolved over time and customers are both interested in vintage and current designs.

With Global financial uncertainty becoming constant background noise we would counsel that a solid investment in a tried and tested asset class would be wise. With dwindling supply and demand increasing we foresee that any Cartier collector's piece bought now might be worth 20% more in 5 years.

How can anyone resist?

Here are some investment pieces.

Disclaimer: The views expressed here are no guarantee of future growth.

The most valuable jewellery in the world is also the rarest. This is not a coincidence. Since the beginning of time human beings have cherished the rarest commodities. Would gold be so valuable if our rivers ran full of it?

Every year Tiffany & Co puts together an exclusive collection of gemstone jewellery. This collection "Colours" travels the world and comprises of one off pieces. Tiffany's renowned gemstone department curates a collection of large, unparalleled stones to be set in the finest settings, in which to display unique fire, scintillation and presence.

You might imagine that one off jewellery pieces are expensive. They absolutely are! Our unique Tiffany & Co Spessartite Garnet Earrings made for the 2009 Colours Collection were originally sold for £40,800!

They are available from us for just £11,700 and are sure to be a future investment. If you are more generally interested in the Colours collection it is touring right now and pieces are available in Harrods, London to view. There is a similar pair of rubellite earrings available for £41,000.

For enquiries about these earrings please contact us on +44(0207) 692  5103.

Having listened to your feedback we have introduced a new Concierge service so that you can sell your Tiffany, Cartier, Bulgari and other luxury jewellery through us but not to us. This service gives you the potential to earn more from your second hand jewellery and engagement rings.

Our Concierge service is a little like traditional consignment/commission selling but with the added bonus of access to our specialist services like professional cleaning, polishing, photography and resizing services. Our engagement rings are sold as "proposal ready" rather than just being "second hand". How many other sites offer this?

There is no other consignment seller in the UK to offer this range of services. In our experience 90% of engagement rings sold need resizing so our resizing service is vital to the sale of your unwanted engagement ring. If you compare our photographs to the photographs of regular consignment sites without concierge services then you will see the Bloomsbury Manor difference.

Please have a look at this table to see how our concierge service compares to other consignment services.

If you would like to use our concierge service please upload you details to the form in the link below. If you would like to learn more about our concierges please click here.