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A few times a week, Melbourne jeweller Antoinette Campbell holds "detachment ceremonies" in her Brunswick East store.
Key points:
- A Melbourne jeweller is offering "detachment ceremonies" for superstitious customers buying second-hand items
- Second-hand rings are becoming more popular as costs rise
- Jewellers are urging prudence if buying online
Ms Campbell takes second-hand jewellery — often engagement and wedding rings — and dips them in a jar of salt water.
She thinks positive thoughts and the "cleansing" process continues when the items are smudged on a pile of smoked sage and kept overnight on amethyst crystals.
It may sound like an unconventional approach, but Ms Campbell said an increasing number of her customers were glad to take up the offer of a detachment ceremony when buying pre-owned jewellery.
Curious buyers want to know the history behind a second-hand piece, she said.
Is the ring for sale because the previous owner died after a long and happy marriage, or is it because of a toxic break-up?
"Death is a lot more acceptable," Ms Campbell said, adding many potential buyers were instantly turned off when they heard about a failed marriage or engagement.
"If I'm going to sell these pieces, I need to be able to offer some kind of service where I can neutralise any kind of emotional feeling.
"They completely believe that I will change the energy of that piece — and I believe I do as well."
As costs increase, so does bargain hunting
Jewellers like Ms Campbell are at the centre of a growing trend in the industry, which has seen an increase in customers wanting to buy old pieces or have them recreated into something new.
There is also no shortage of people buying and selling wedding rings.
According to the Australian Bureau of Statistics, nearly 120,000 couples tied the knot last year. There were about 49,000 divorces.
Another newly-released survey of 4,000 couples, conducted by Easy Weddings, found the average cost of an engagement ring was about $5,100 in 2018.
The average cost of a wedding rose 3 per cent in a year to $32,333, the report said.
Ms Campbell said older customers were generally more superstitious and would only consider new pieces, but those in their 20s and 30s were lured by the potential of saving between 30 and 50 per cent by going second-hand.
"More than 50 per cent of people who come in ask for a second-hand diamond or a coloured stone," she said.
"They don't want to have to take anything out of the environment; for them, they feel some guilt about it."
Ronnie Bauer, a board member of the Jewellers Association of Australia who also runs his own antique jewellery shop in Melbourne's CBD, agreed that recycled jewellery was becoming more popular.
But the customers he sees have different motivations for wanting a second-hand ring.
He said in many cases, it was about repurposing a grandmother's ring or finding something in a vintage style.
"It's very rare you hear people wanting recycled for sustainable reasons," he said.
There are also no special ring ceremonies at Mr Bauer's shop.
"We don't exorcise devils. It's not an industry standard," he chuckled.
"We clean it, we polish it, we fix flaws and leave it in very good condition."
'A lot of scamming going on'
While Ms Campbell and Mr Bauer have different views on the energetic properties of jewellery, they both say customers should exercise caution when buying items online.
"There's a lot of scamming going on; the worst offenders are glass-filled rubies," Mr Bauer said.
Facebook Marketplace, for example, is filled with dozens of listings for expensive rings.
While some come with certificates, Ms Campbell advises customers to have all items verified by a jeweller who can examine them under a microscope.
She also said she had encountered "horror stories" of people mistakenly undervaluing family jewellery and listing items for sale well below market price.
ABC Radio Melbourne listeners shared their own stories about second-hand wedding and engagement rings:
My wife chose a "previously loved" wedding ring after my ringless proposal (I knew her well enough that she'd make a better choice than I on the jewellery). No jinx here. Eight years in, happier every year.
I had my eye on a lovely little ring in a city antique shop near where I worked just in case he popped the question, which he did, over 30 years ago. I still love it and never thought about its previous owner. Doesn't matter really as my husband was second-hand too!
I had a goldsmith melt down my wedding ring into a cylinder which I made into fretboard side dots for ukuleles, which I build.
Topics: marriage, community-and-society, gold, diamonds, paganism, melbourne-3000, brunswick-east-3057, vic