Jewellery Care

With proper care your jewellery can last for many lifetimes. There is no substitution for having your jewellery professionally cleaned. This is because different jewellery will have different care requirements.

Overall Jewellery Care

Houshold chemicals (cleaning agents, polishes etc) can all have a detrimental effect on your jewellery. This is particularly true of silver jewellery which is a lot more reacive than gold or platinum.

Take off rings before washing your hands or dishes. Soap can get lodged behind gemstones causing them to lose some of their sparkle.

Gardening with jewellery on is a no-no. Rings will suffer abbrasions and be subjected to excessive dirt whilst neclaces run the risk of getting caught in foliage and breaking.

Jewellery should be taken off while swimming too. Chlorine is not good for silver in particular.

Jewellery can be polished using nothing more than a soft lint free cloth such as you would use on your glasses or camera lenses.

Using Commercial Polishing Compounds

All polishing compounds are mildly abrasive. Bear this in mind particularly if you have a jewellery piece that is plated with another metal (like white gold).

If in doubt, ask your jeweller.

Caring for gemstones

It is a good idea to regularly inspect the settings on your jewellery. Loose claws holding gemstones like diamonds could result in the loss of your stone. Similarly, check for cracks in the metal that holds your gemstones. A crack can often be repaired and reinforced, but a lost gemstone is more expensive to replace.

Gently touch the gemstone with a nail to check for movement. If there is any movement you should bring your jewellery item to your jewellers immediately.

Different gemstones have different properties. While diamonds are renowned for their resilliance, emeralds are by their nature rather brittle. While it is ok to brush diamonds with a soft toothbrush in warm water, it would not be a good idea to do this with opals, emeralds, or pearls for example.

Caring for White Gold

White gold has a coating of another metal (nearly always rhodium). Rhodium is a hard wearing white metal of the platinum family. It can wear down though. Regularly cleaning any rhodium plated jewellery (including platinum itself) with a brush will wear down this layer, returning the jewellery to it's base colour. In the case of Gold it would mean that your white gold becomes noticeably yellow. It is possible to have white gold replated if this occurs.

White gold can be gently polished using a lint free soft cloth. If a more intensive clean is required we suggest you bring your jewellery in to a jewellers.

As with all jewellery, take care not to wear it in situations where it is likely to be scratched and abraded.

Caring for Gold

Gold is a soft metal. The higher the purity of the gold the softer your jewellery will be. For this reason it is important not to allow your gold jewellery come into contact with anything abrasive. This means that tasks like gardening are best performed with your jewellery off.

You can polish your gold with a soft cloth but if it becomes seriously scratched you will need to bring it to your jewellers for a more intensive polish to restore its original shine.

Pay special attention to the security of mountings.

Caring for Silver

Not only does silver react with chemicals like chlorine and bleach, it also reacts to elements present in the air itself. Hair spray, hair dye, vinegar, cigarette smoke, table salt and even perspiration all effect silver jewellery in particular. These reactions leave a brown tarnish on your jewellery.

There are many commercial cleaners available for silver. If your silver has rhodium plating some of these cleaners will erode that plating. Some of these cleaners are also not suitable for use with various gemstones. All cleaners will wear away some of this very soft metal.

Tarnish is easiest to remove when if first occurs. If you do use a commercial cleaning solution or polish then you should rinse your jewellery in water afterwards and dry it thoroughly with a soft cloth afterwards. Polish residues could lead to more staining. Wearing your jewellery is the easiest way to reduce tarnish build-up.

If you are storing your jewellery, it may make sense to wrap it in an acid free tissue and place both inside a sealed polythene bag. Some people add a piece of ordinary blackboard chalk to the bag. The idea is to remove sulpher. You can also purchase anti-tarnish strips for the same purpose.