Last of the engravers: Jewellery as personal as a signature

Neil Oliver has been engraving rings by hand all his working life.

The practice of wearing a family crest or motto and using it to press seals into wax for letters and official documents, is a tradition that goes back thousands of years.

Yet fewer than 20 people in Britain still engrave by hand.

The process involves making a miniature carving that is both back to front, and inside out - an art which has largely been phased out by machinery.

Neil says that although the new process is faster, it means the inscribed rings are not unique, as a personal signature should be.

BBC News went to meet Neil at his home and studio in the Scottish Highlands.

Video Journalist: Julia Macfarlane

Stop/Start is a series of video features for the BBC News website which follows both new trends that are beginning and old traditions that are coming to an end.