Dealing in precious metals has been the Bloomsteins' family business for four generations. The family background was specifically in antique silver and silver plate, rather than bullion. Michael Bloomstein's father and uncle were in the Pall Mall Safe Deposit and later in the Bond Street Silver Galleries.

Michael began his career in the late 1950s in the antiques world, starting with antique furniture at Bolson's of Westbourne Grove. But when he found that furniture was too heavy, he diverted into buying smalls and silver plate. His father's suggestion that he buy and deal in scrap silver and gold was to become his niche, with London and Brighton as his two spheres of activity.

In London in the late 1950s and early 1960s, Michael worked from the markets (Bermondsey, Portobello, Cutler Street and Cheshire Street) before renting an old warehouse at Bermondsey Square which he named the Bermondsey Antiques Centre. He continued dealing generally in antiques throughout the 1960s but by the 1970s most of the business was in scrap gold and silver. Michael became known as the Man with the Tin because he was operating without an office, just carrying around a small steel toolbox that the scrap precious metals would go into. The offer of an office above antique dealer Michael Dawes' warehouse brought Michael down to Brighton in 1979, and his customers followed him.

Soon afterwards he was introduced to the director of a large bullion house and within a comparatively short time of trading sufficient trust was built up for Michael to be granted the facility to sell gold forward (fixing at the current spot price against future transactions to hedge against potential price fluctuations); this was to prove of great advantage to him as it protected him from the extreme volatility which prevailed at that particular time, and left the business unaffected when the price crashed after the Bunker Hunt debacle of the early 1980s. Michael's business continued trading throughout the period and successfully rode out the crash.

In 1983 Bloomsteins acquired the premises at 30 Gloucester Road in the North Road Laines area of Brighton. Staff were taken on and trained to assess parcels of scrap gold and silver at the counter and to make immediate payment. The business was expanded considerably by the introduction of a secure and insured postal package service in 1986.

In the course of recovering and purchasing their scrap gold, the firm became known to many working jewellers. As a natural progression of this, it was decided that we would hold stocks of new material, such as gold sheet and wires, to supply jewellers' workshops. This activity has now been expanded to include colleges, universities and individual students.

Bloomsteins are now responding to an increasing number of approaches by prospective buyers of gold bullion who have become disillusioned and concerned by the recent near-collapse of the financial system, and who have decided to put their money into a tangible asset which can be traded worldwide.

Today, Michael Bloomstein Precious Metals offers a comprehensive range of new metal (gold, silver and platinum), wire, Sheet, Colletts and Bezelstrip, and a wide variety of jewellers' accessories and jewellery, as well as fast accurate assessment of precious metal in person or through the Security Package service.