So Long & Thanks for all the Jewels

So Long & Thanks for all the Jewels

Well peeps, its been a blast, all 43 years of it, but the time has come to call it a day.

I started out in 1972 at Mallorys of Bath working under the brilliant Patrick Mallory & under the mentoring of Mrs Gear, 43 years later I have my own successful Jewellery Valuation Company & I couldn't have done it without their help,  but the time has definitely come to retire.

I am closing Jewellery Evaluation Service  as from the 1st September 2015 & I want to thank all the people that have helped me on my way, some, very sadly, no longer with us.

Firstly obviously, Patrick Mallory & all the members of his family & not forgetting Mrs Gear (Hankie) & her wonderful husband Tom for whom I will be eternally grateful for constantly beating me at chess.  I will never forget actually beating him once & thinking I had it nailed, but it wasn't to be, just a fluke!

After a brief dreadful time (profitable but awful) with the Prudential, I would like to thank the partners at David Christopher for our short time together & reminding me why I love this business so much,  & then a great big shout out to Mr Vincent of Vincents of Frome,
All I can say about that is that it was wonderful & I apologise for not keeping a tighter rein on He Who Cannot Be Named for screwing it all up.

I would like to mention Harvey & Thompson, even though I had to take them to the industrial tribunal, you need to work on Human Relations there chaps. Hatton Goldsmiths deserve a mention, great fun there but the mileage was just too much in the end for me.

LMG again reminded me that I was a jeweller & valuer first & ethics was the most important part of my lifestyle & Safeguard reinforced this, sorry people I just cannot value by rote, it's my name at the bottom even when its yours at the top, I could never have fitted in as part of a Valuation Mill, good on you though for making it work for the multiples, that's work I didn't want.

I have met some great people on the way & a few that deserve mention are Brian Dunn, a massive

Paul Templeton

talent & sadly missed, Paul Templeton again massively missed, Gabi Tolkowski who taught me more about diamond cutting over a coffee than I had learnt in the previous 30 odd years.

Of course I couldn't forget Adrian Smith of AIJV fame who created my brilliant website & helped enormously when I started out on my own, so much so that I am donating www.jewelleryvaluer.com to him after I retire.

Michael Inkpen for his brilliant lectures on Jewellery photography, Shirley Mitchell for her wicked sense of humour & all the other great Independent valuers in the AIJV & larger jewellery community.

I cannot leave without mentioning Michael Norman, probably the most ethical & honest valuer I ever met & that is not to belittle his teaching ability which was beyond compare, David Callaghan for his wonderful talks, especially the one on The Victoria Cross, Eric Emms for his stance on Diamond Grading, didn't always agree but always respected his views. I have to mention James Riley, dating back to his days at Backes & Strauss & the diamond pricing grids, so much easier than Rap, & his taking Gem-A properly into the 21st Century, Pravin Pattni gave us so much information on High Carat Gold work & did sterling work as head of NAG.

I have to mention Philip Stephenson & his watches & the great times at Loughborough & finally my last mentions are Richard Gerrard & his love of great music & also Catherine Parsons & Lyn Jordan from my time at Goldsmiths.

There are so many other wonderful people who I have met at conference (Thank you Sandra Page) that I cannot mention them all but you are all brilliant & wonderful examples of our trade Thank You from the bottom of my heart.

I was particularly struck by the wealth of international talent that turned up in Loughborough every year, thank you all for sharing your expertise.

Of course I could not have done it without the support of my amazing wife Jane, after a previous excursion into married life in the 80s & 90s which left me bruised battered & much much poorer & almost homeless, meeting someone like Jane was beyond belief. I had intended to retire at 55 originally & open a specialist Antique shop, probably in France, open by appointment only, but circumstances rendered that impossible & beyond my means, the new horizons now available are fantastic & my only regret is leaving all the wonderful friends I have met over the years behind, but it has to be.

I couldn't have made it alone without the strong support from my friends in the retail trade, those jewellers who entrustred me with their valuations, so a big thank you to, Denhams of Loughborough, DeVille of Melton Mowbray, Petersons of Leicester, Silk Diamonds of Leicester, Hallams of Nottingham & Jollys of Mansfield, I would also like to thank the Police from Nottinghamshire, Leicestershire (especially Wigston) & Derbyshire as well as Operation Titan based in Liverpool for their strong support. All the jewellers above are fantastic & professional, I cannot recommend them enough.

I am going to be pottering, with ceramics & the dogs from now on but somehow I know, that I will never be able to pass an antique shop, jewellers or silversmiths without a wistful backwards glance.

I am not closing my Facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/JewelleryEvaluationService?ref=bookmarks so if people still want to post beautiful jewellery or wonderful silver then I will still be happy to share, I may even still help out with the odd enquiry but will not be able to give valuations for you.

Just to reiterate, I am closing Jewellery Evaluation Service at the end of August so, as from the 28th of August 2015, I regret it will be no more, if you need to find a brilliant & highly qualified valuer in your area after this date you can do no better than to check out http://www.independent-jewellery-valuers.org/find_appraiser_valuer.html

Thank you all for your help

Ian Dunbar