FAQS
Questions & Answer
Q. Do you take credit and debit card payments?
A. Yes. For two decades this business has been a registered Barclays Merchant but the card details you give are verbal which is very secure as they are immediately destroyed. We are annually assessed by SecurityMetrics and are therefor compliant with the Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard (PCI DSS).
If you wsh to pay by PayPal then this is also available.
Q. Do you offer the service for making one-off buckles to customer's own designs?
A. You should be looking for a jobbing jeweller or offer the commission to a student or go direct to a CAD service. You must have a budget and be prepared to state it upfront to avoid wasting your own time.
Q. If I see a buckle style on your site but would prefer a bigger or smaller size, will you make it?
A. The cost of developing some of the buckles on the site reached £500 plus and some were scrapped even after all of the development time. The large Farrier had to be mastered using 'distorted' art generated by CAD to be practical and visually correct. Some buckle designs do not size up or down to become visually pleasing enough to warrant casting or be strong enough to take the bridle leather. If the size is not seen on the site then it is not planned for.
Q. Do you have silver tips for your belt straps?
A. No. Each buckle requires a different width of strap. Full bridle leather becomes extremely soft and strong with wear and at that moment the tip would then try to point the end of the strap at your shoes.
Q. Do you supply the trade?
A. You are buying at trade prices.
Q. Do you make articles other than buckles?
A. Yes. Silver buttons, cufflinks and special boxed engraved sets with silver mounts commissioned for The British Equestrian Team who won team bronze in Hong Kong during the Olympic Games in China. The games were in Beijing but the equestrian events were held in Hong Kong.
Q. Why do you offer only dark havana and black leather?
A. The leather I use on the buckles is the best 4mm full bridle, tanned in this country in the old fashioned way in oak bark handling pits. To do a special color ( say blue) requires a major purchase with expensive set up costs to get the rich drum dyed depth of color rather than accept inferior hides with sprayed on or topical applications. It would be a fluke that the color of blue would then match the client's expectation. Non saddlery colors are highly subjective. Black is black but blue has many shades. The choice is kept simple.
Q. What is the average turn around time if I place an order?
A. If the buckle is available and hallmarked then about a week. If not then a month which is approximately 20 working days. 4 days of that time are spent with the buckles passing through the hallmarking process at the Birmingham Assay Office which is mandatory.
Q. I have an old brass buckle do you offer a service to releather it?
A. Try a saddler located in your area. There are plenty of sites offering straps as well.
Q. Is silver strong enough for a buckle?
A. Yes.
Q. Can I buy just a buckle set?
A. Yes and that is what is priced on the varous pages.
Leather in Dark Havana or black is an optional extra as many buckle sets are posted overseas to ex-pats or friends and family where the straps in a chosen material are made locally. Again, let's talk it through especially if you want something for an exotic leather strap. My strap sizes are usually cut closer to US sizes which have usual width increments in 1/8th” whereas UK width sizes are in 1/4” variables. No point in getting fixed on having a buckle set that cannot fit the croc/snake/lizard. Straps are normally cut to suit the buckle not the buckle made to suit the strap.
Q. I've seen your work and I notice that the belt was personalized with the initials on the underside of the leather at the buckle end. Can I have this too?
A. Yes, that should all come up in our detail conversation. There is limited space. 4 letters max. please.
Q. I am thinking of something for Xmas so when do you need to know?
A. As soon as possible.
Q. Why do you operate mainly off a mobile phone?
A. The land line triggers the fax machine after 4 rings. Although not every working day requires being in the Jewellery Quarter in Birmingham , the diversity of trades and suppliers and talented associates that I deal with demands that I am accessible and rightly embrace mobile phone technology as the most useful flexible business tool.
(+44) 07970 063222