The cabinetChains
The plainest wayto own the metal.
A chain is bought closer to the gold than anything else in the cabinet. It goes on the scale in front of you, the grams meet the day’s rate, and the price is done. The link decides how it wears. The weight decides everything else.
Priced as metal,worn as jewellery.
Nothing in this shop wears a price tag, and the chain is the cleanest proof of why. Grams on the scale, times the day’s rate, plus a little for the making. On a plain chain that last part stays small: you are buying the metal first and the work second.
That arithmetic is what makes a chain the usual first piece of gold. There is no stone to argue over and no fashion to date it, and a 22 carat curb bought this year reads the same in thirty. The whole sum, spelt out →
If what you are after is worked rather than plain, a border, a drop, a set behind it, you are shopping for a necklace, and the necklaces have a page of their own.
Three questions settle a chain
- Weightgrams, on the scale in front of you
- Lengthwhere it sits; tried on, never guessed
- Linkhow it wears, and what it can carry
The first two are settled at the counter in minutes. The link is the one worth knowing before you come in, so it is spelt out below.
Know the linkby its name.
A chain is one link repeated a few hundred times, so the link is the whole character of the piece. These are the four names asked for most at this counter, in 21 and 22 carat.
- Rope
- Strands of gold twisted around one another, like its namesake. The whole surface turns light as it moves, and the twist is forgiving: everyday wear disappears into the pattern.
- Curb
- Flat interlocking links, twisted and filed to lie flush against the skin. The plainest of the four and the happiest worn heavy, which is why most men’s chains are curbs.
- Box
- Square links meeting edge to edge in one unbroken line. Strong for its weight and steady under a load, so this is the chain a pendant usually hangs from.
- Disc-link
- Flat discs joined in a run, giving the gold more surface than any other link. It shows the colour most plainly, and in 22 carat the colour is the point.
A clasp that fails or a link that opens is not the end of a chain. They are mended at the bench here. How repairs work →
Where the chain leads
Heavier links, something to hang from the chain, and a page for the gold you already own.
Wear it first,then weigh it.
Ask for any chain in the cabinet. Try the length in the mirror, watch it go on the scale, and hear the day’s price before you decide a thing.
364-378 Prospect Road, Kilburn SA 5084
Tuesday to Sunday, 10:30am – 6pm