A Brandt & Son

I had a wonderful interaction with the owner Elan today about a piece I had seen some time ago and after some discussion and a request to modify the piece slightly , it is heading my way soon.

The owners and all those who work here are amazing. They have an extremely high taste level, listen to what their clients need or desire and work to make their clients happy. Who does this these days? A. Brandt & Son. Simply fabulous.

I call myself a customer, but I've never purchased anything here. I come to sell my old stuff. And I've been very pleasantly surprised to find I get a reasonable price for my items. Could I get a little more money from another jeweler? Maybe. But I find that other jewelers don't take into account the history and age of an item. Even if we're talking about just the weight in gold.

Today I brought in a small shopping bag full of stuff - good and bad (costume jewelry) . The young gentleman stood with me and had a running commentary of what he thought about the pieces and that some were not suitable for the store, but he gave me suggestions of where I might find a better fit for the pieces.

Several items were put aside and then Elan "the SON" of A Brandt & Son came out to see what he thought. He took several items to test for GOLD content and then wrote out a list of what he would pay for each item.
He did not try to pressure me at all- and in the past I have left the store without any sale only to find Elan was offering me the best price and was able to give me the quoted price when I returned to sell that item.

This time I decided which pieces were better off in someone elses jewelry box. And I left with a check in hand. I felt it was a good experience.

Many might be put off a little by how the store is situated. The main door is shared with the bookstore adjacent. And the total store is pretty small and condensed. But if you are searching for unusual items it's a great place to just take your time and peruse around.

I have been an online customer of A Brandt & Son for a number of years and always found them extremely responsive and a pleasure to communicate with.

There was an issue with an order that I placed a couple of weeks ago, that unfortunately meant it could not be fulfilled. Working closely with Bonnie, I found another piece to substitute for the original. As well as expediting the order and shipment, I was also given very favourable terms on the replacement item.

Having been in the professional service industry for 30 years, mistakes and other events happen to everybody. It is the way that the service provider addresses and resolves these issues, that differentiates fantastic service from good service.

Bonnie and Brandt & Sons without doubt fall into the fantastic catagory.

My recent experience has shown that their goal to provide 110% service has been exceeded!

I had a horrific experience with Brandt & Son. Buyers should beware that their description of items is not accurate. Below is the description of what they featured as a carved ivory necklace and charged accordingly.

"A fantastic and unusual carved ivory necklace from the Victorian (ca1880) era! This wonderful piece is made of hand carved ivory beads that are particularly large in size. The beads graduate in size and have an interesting star cutout design. Each bead is hollow inside and magnificently carved with a cutout body and carved ends. The ivory beads are strung on simple, thick white thread and the necklace has a simple, yet secure screw clasp, which is also made of carved ivory. A fabulous necklace, this bold piece would make a wonderful addition to any collection!"

I took the piece to a top-notch jeweler to insure it. The jeweler took one look and told me that the necklace was not pearl, but was bone.
Of course, I was disappointed and disillusioned. Had I not taken the necklace for an appraisal for insurance purposes, I would have not known that Brandt & Sons are dishonest. I contacted Brandt and Son with the email below.

"This is the piece that you represented on your site as ivory, it was appraised as bone, not ivory. I am disappointed, in that if I was not going to insure these, I would have not known that I paid $895.00 for a bone necklace, instead of for the ivory necklace that I thought I was getting. This is an enormous amount of aggravation and stress. I want to be made whole right away. I am prepared to take the next steps.
An Unhappy Customer

Victorian Star Cutout Hand Carved Ivory Bead Necklace × 1
Victorian Hand-Carved Ivory Disc Necklace × 1Items in this shipment

I will pursue this matter of false representation with any oversight agency
that will accept this misleading concern of dishonesty.

I spent quite a bit of time searching online for an Art Deco style and period natural jade ring, and found it on their website. Elan was wonderful to work with, always responsive to my emails and very patient with all my questions. Thank you, Elan. I love my ring!

Fantastic experience ordering a beautiful antique opal online. Communication with Elan was timely, and we would definitely recommend doing business in the future. The ring arrived with lovely presentation and on the date when promised.

My fiancee purchased a beautiful vintage engagement ring from A Brandt & Son -- it's unique and gorgeous and I love it. Unfortunately, my experience here was very disappointing. When I went to the shop to have my engagement ring resized, the staff weren't very friendly and acted a bit snooty but my fiancee said he had a good experience there so I wanted to give them a chance.

I was really looking forward to getting a custom wedding ring made to complement it but it's been nearly impossible to get in touch with them so unfortunately we're going to go elsewhere. We tried calling the shop the week between Christmas and New Year's and there was no message saying they had different hours or that they wouldn't be in the office. We left a message but didn't hear back. We decided to chance it and when we went to the shop, it appeared to be closed -- although again no special hours posted or any notice stating that they would not be open.

I left a message explaining that I would like to have a custom wedding ring made. That was a week ago. No response. From what I can tell, their jewelry and selection is wonderful but their customer service and rapport leaves something to be desired. I'll be heading to Jeweler's Row.

I came across A. Brandt and Son while scouring the internet for estate jewelry. I spotted something I liked so I called them and talked with Elan directly. There was a little negotiating then I made my choice and a few days later it arrived by UPS looking even better than it did on-line.

Elon was very knowledgeable and professional throughout the transaction. I would like to give him six stars.

My boyfriend and I were excited to visit this shop after seeing how many great antique engagement rings they have on their website. We drove an hour from to get there and were the only customers there. We were initially helped by a very nice young woman who happily chatted with us and pulled out the rings I wanted to see.

Then Charlotte came back to work and the experience became memorably awful - read through this entire review to see just how bad it gets.

The young woman said that she would pass us over to Charlotte because she was the real expert on rings. Charlotte disinterestedly asked, "What was your question?" I explained that I didn't have a specific question, but that my boyfriend and I were simply looking for a ring. As I talked, she put away the rings I had already looked at and liked - and as I asked to see others, she immediately put them back in the case as soon as I was done with them. (Typically other jewelry stores keep the ones you are interested in out, so that you can narrow down your decision from there.)

As I looked at the rings, Charlotte stood there and said nothing. No information, no questions, no small talk, nothing.

I asked her to bring a tray of rings that was on the bottom shelf out so that I could look at them closer. She kept the tray on the counter, and as I leaned in and tried to pull the tray a little closer to better see the rings, she gripped it tightly with both hands in a frantic way, as if I was going to grab the whole tray and run! That was when I first started to feel insulted by the way Charlotte was behaving... but it got so much worse.

At this point, we had been there about 10 minutes, and I had found a few rings that I liked, but had heard no information about any of them, and they were all back the case.

Then my boyfriend spotted a ring - and he suggested that I try it on. I said, "Sure, can I see that one?"

Charlotte responded "NO, it's too big."

It took a few seconds for the shock of that response to wear off - and the young man who was also working in the shop whispered to Charlotte "Just let them try it on." Charlotte's response was to literally stick her nose in the air and not to look at either my boyfriend or I. There have been few times when I've been so insulted.

My boyfriend and I immediately left the store, and the young man made a very half-hearted attempt to say "Hope we see you again."

They won't see us again, but I hope they do see this review. Charlotte's audacity to tell me what I can and cannot look at was beyond rude. She was obviously not interested in helping us the entire time we were there, and everything about her behavior told us that she was mistrustful of us. I tried to think about what made her feel that way about us - I was dressed the way I do for work (business casual), and my boyfriend was in khakis and a polo. I was carrying a $600 purse, and my boyfriend is a doctor. And black... Racism is one of those things that is very hard to prove, but very easy to feel. Charlotte made us feel plenty uncomfortable and discriminated against, and her DISGUSTING TREATMENT OF US MADE ME CRY ONCE WE LEFT THE STORE. That's just how every girl shopping for an engagement ring wants to feel.

My boyfriend will be spending his thousands of dollars elsewhere, because Charlotte obviously isn't interested in helping us or the reputation or bottom line of A. Brandt & Son.

My boyfriend and I visited this cool shop in search of an antique engagement ring. I saw several on their website I was interested in so we made a Saturday trip to the shop.

We were helped by Bonnie, who couldn't have been nicer. I tried on a lot of rings and finally settled on a very unique art deco ring circa 1910, which we ultimately purchased.

I made a second trip to the store on my own to see the ring again and then a third trip to purchase it with my boyfriend. Each time we were greeted politely and helped sufficiently - they also gave us a 10% discount.