Argent

I am a sucker. Oh hold on a moment I was meant to finish that sentence. I am a sucker for a little bit of bling. I’m also rather keen on shiny things, diamonds and also jewellery that won’t involve my selling a kidney for the honour of wearing it. That’s why I love Argent.
Tucked away in the Thornton’s Arcade, it really is a little joy of riches. First up you need to set your price range though. Be firm, you know you have to. Like all good jewellers you can spend as little (relatively speaking) or as much as you like so you do need a battle plan. So moving on from the super expensive platinum range (sob), I often go right for the silver. Silver is good, in fact silver is great but it’s even better here. That’s because it’s all so funky, original and a different class from your bog standard chain shop offerings. Personally the charm bracelets are always a pleasant surprise because they look great, have charms that stand out and aren’t quite in the same cost league as say Links of London.
You can spend under twenty pounds if that is your upper limit and the unique designers give you that edge over places in the area. I bought a quite stunning cross many years ago now and it still looks incredibly on trend and new. It’s great to have accessible jewellery that breaks the mould and you are definitely getting it here.
For all your wedding needs, they are on hand too. Although I can’t go into that right now as I’m still waiting for Johnny Depp to realise I am the woman of his dreams. Until then, I’ll comfort myself with some quality retail therapy.

Argent is an unusual jeweler’s selling a wide range of jewellery in gold, platinum, silver, titanium and steel. Prices are very varied ranging from £50 to several thousand pounds for a ring. Pieces are generally very modern with clean lines and interesting shapes.
The gold, platinum and silver jewellery is obviously at the higher end price-​wise and generally has a more understated feel with modern twists on more traditional shapes. The steel and titanium collection is much cheaper in price and much more adventurous in design, with very modern and unusual, sometimes almost space-​age shapes and several pieces featuring bunches of brightly-​coloured playfully-​shaped gems or arty silver and black designs.
Men’s jewellery is chunky, minimalist, streamlined and modern and generally no more than £300 with many pieces such as cufflinks under £50.
There is also kids jewellery, much more fun and playful and thankfully nothing nearing several grand in price! Most pieces are under £40 and feature butterflies, fairies and stars.
The jewellery at Argent has character and is very stylised… it may not be to everyone’s taste but at least it stands out from the crowd.

The beauty of this Boutique is it’s not just about their amazing range of jewellery. The staff as soon as you enter the shop treat you as if you are a member of their family. Open for over 20years this boutique moves with the times as well as keeping old fashion customer service at the fore front. They have also just started selling one of my favourite jewellery designers Shaun Leane which is not widely available in the North.

You could be misled in thinking that Argent stocked only items of a silver nature. Silver in colour, silver in chemical properties. It’s ok. It wouldn’t be your fault, after all that’s what argent in its translated form means, Silver. Not in this case, it’s just a fancy sounding name to get the message over that they stock and sell jewellery. They are not silver exclusive, but also provide items in white gold, platinum, steel and titanium, not forgetting silver, can’t forget the silver. One thing of note, the jewellery on sale in Argent, sooooooooooooo not silver prices. You wouldn’t think it to look at the displays through the large glass fronted window, there is nothing from the outside that says ‘come on inside, I’m temptingly expensive and decadent’, in fact the displays make the jewellery look cheap and passable, which is such a shame, as it really is divine in content. From the novelty side of things with the gold plated ‘my last Rolo’ all the way through the earrings, bracelets, necklaces of varying and ascending price ranges through to the jaw droppingly expensive platinum ranges. We’re talking an average price of £3k per platinum ring, with a ceiling price of around £7.5K, I can feel my bank balance wheezing and shaking at the thought of parting with that much cash, for a beautifully crafted, but rather unremarkable piece of jewellery. However, plus side, the titanium ranges are gorgeous! And super reasonable on prices for the designs. Make of it what you will, but it’s worth a gander, even if it’s just to be nosey and eye up the gorgeous treasures.