San Francisco East Bay bench recommendations?

[DecoDaze]

I have several vintage and antique pieces that are in need of various repairs and I have yet to find a bench in my area that I trust with those old pieces. I've gone to Nick Engel in San Francisco before, and he's great, but I'd rather not have to trek across the bay every time I need a small repair. I have also had some easy repairs done at A&G Jewelers in Walnut Creek, but the things I need to have done now are more involved and I'd like to go to a bench with expertise in vintage and antiques. I'm east of Oakland, near Walnut Creek. Can anyone give me a recommendation? Thank you!

 

[SillyMonkee]

I was going to recommend A&G Jewelers myself. I've been going to them for years... I had a platinum vintage Art Deco half eternity ring resized down a couple sizes (the sales lady at Milner's suggested I "order it in a smaller size"), I recently had a platinum Edwardian dinner ring 1/4 reshanked and they matched the engraving perfectly, and I had a pair of 9 ct Edwardian earrings changed from screw back to post - that proved more exciting as apparently the backs "exploded" under heat (I think they said something about lead solder? This was years ago...), but they were able to repair the situation perfectly (with pearls on the front!). I don't know how much more involved your repairs are, but I wanted to describe the positive experiences I've had there.

 

[DecoDaze]

That's reassuring, thanks, SillyMonkee. One reason I was looking around for another place is because I had an art deco ring with a central cab emerald sized at A&G, and the sizing is fine but the emerald is now loose. I suppose I should just take it back to them to get the prongs tightened; I'm just paranoid about the emerald getting damaged. I also have a vintage ring that has small bezeled diamonds attached to the large center bezel via small metal arms (kind of like a sunburst) and I broke one of the arms off. I actually found the tiny bezeled diamond, arm still attached, but I feel like that's the sort of thing that could look really messy if not done properly. And I need links removed from an art deco line bracelet, etc, etc.

But I feel more confident knowing that they've done that sort of work for you! And that they took good care of your gems. (Also, 9ct Edwardian earrings? Green with envy over here! )

So why didn't you just order the vintage ring in a smaller size?

 

[LinSF]

I would call Selenbacher and ask about their bench. Super reputable jeweler in Alameda, family owned business. I'm sure he could give you a great reference... super honest, check his Yelp reviews.