The History of Guest & Philips Jewellers...

Founded in 1966 and now with four branches in East Yorkshire (Beverley, Cottingham, Driffield and Pocklington) Guest & Philips is still a family owned & operated jewellers. We pride ourselves on quality and old fashioned personal service. We have a fantastic range of products for all ages and occasions and a unique approach to on-line shopping

This website is designed to give you a flavour of what we do and to give you the chance to purchase some of our most popular products, quickly and easily on-line. It is easy to navigate around and purchasing is simple and very quick. And Gift Wrapping is FREE. So if you need an item of jewellery or giftware and you want to shop on-line start shopping here right now!

For those people who live close to one of our shops, or want to see and talk a purchase through with us, we recommend a visit to one of our four Guest & Philips outlets. We cannot catalogue or photograph all of our vast and constantly changing retail stock for this website, particularly when it comes to “one off” pieces & antique or estate jewellery. So a visit is well worthwhile.

Please do not hesitate to contact us if you have any particular requests or enquiries, as there is not much that we cannot do! We hope that we can be of service and look forward to speaking to you. Please feel free to give us feedback on this website at any time. Email us at sales@guestandphilips.co.uk

A Brief History of Jewellery...

Throughout the ages jewellery has been indicative of the fashion and trends of the era often a reflection of the social and economic climate of the time. It also provides an interesting insight into the knowledge jewellers had of the materials and tools they worked with. The earliest jewellery to survive dates from around 4000BC which was from royal tombs in Egypt.

Early jewellery (pre 1837) was all handmade therefore every piece was unique with quality varying.

By the Victorian era (1837-1901) the knowledge of materials used and techniques of the production of jewellery had improved so more durable items could be made. The Victorians were also influential to the way jewellery was manufactured with hand operated machinery being used increasingly to produce jewellery.

The trend of using machines continued throughout the Victorian age and by the Edwardian period (1901-1920) the advent of more modern machinery allowed more intricate fine pieces to be produced on a scale that would not have been possible before.

The Art Nouveau period (1880-1910) saw jewellers’ refine the manufacturing process to create detailed fine flowing pieces often using nature as inspiration encompassing foliage and floral motifs. Art Nouveau jewellery often features pearls, coloured gemstones and detailed enamel work.

The Art Deco period (1920-1935) with advances in industry, mechanics, aviation and architecture the jewellery of this time reflects these developments in a very striking and stylish way. The use of geometric shapes, patterns and strong colour contrasts make this jewellery period one of the most appealing and desirable.

Today’s jewellery uses many different materials enabling jewellery to be available for everyone no matter what the budget. Although jewellery as ever shows the fashions of the time a wide range of styles are available to suit all preferences.