Ganesh wrote:
Does any one have good sources on Antique Jewelry making techniques?

Could you be a bit more specific, like in "What kind of antique jewelry?"

Victorian, Edwardian, Art Deco, Art Nouveau, Etruscan, Egyptian,
European, Asian, Middle Eastern.

The variety is much too large to answer the question easily.

However, the short answer is, examine every piece of antique jewelry you
see or get to repair, very closely. By doing this, an experienced
goldsmith can usually figure out how it is made. Do this for many
years, and you will become quite good at making jewelry the way it was
made years ago.

A colleague of mine here in San Francisco, is one of the best "copiers"
of antique jewelry, and he is mostly self taught. He has literally
repaired many hundreds of pieces of antique jewelry over the last
several decades. By doing this he has learned how to copy pieces in the
style they were made.

Most recently, he had to replace a lost 18th century earring, which was
made of silver and gold, with rose cut diamonds. The result was
practically indistinguishable from the original. I was the only one of
6 colleagues who picked the copy from the original. (the color of the
gold ear wire was different from the original. The alloy of the copy
was more yellow than the original, which was only visible under certain
lighting conditions).



--
Abrasha
http://www.abrasha.com