Jewelry is one of our most intimate and cherished accessories. Understanding how to care for and protect your treasured jewelry can make a world of difference in maintaining its beauty and keeping your heirlooms sparkling for generations to come.
Exposure to chemicals can damage or discolor precious metals – gold, silver and platinum – and may harm some colored gems. Even everyday substances like hairspray, lotion, perfume or other cosmetics can contain chemicals that will permanently damage the surface of your pearls and other delicate or porous gems (like turquoise).
Proper jewelry storage is often overlooked. Jewelry should never be tossed into a drawer or on top of a dresser − that’s asking for scratches and damaged gems.
To keep your jewellery dust-free, store it in a jewellery box.
When traveling, protect your jewelry pieces from scratches or other impact damage by padding it in a separate box or case.
While gold has a shine and a luster all its own, it’s also a soft metal. This makes is susceptible to dings, scratches, and dents. Be mindful of your gold rings, watches, and bracelets while you wear them and remove them while playing any high-contact sports.
When worn regularly, your gold jewelry is exposed to skin oils, perspiration, dust, makeup, and more. To keep its shine, you should clean your jewelry regularly with a solution of 10-parts warm water and 2-parts dish soap.
Store pieces separately: this prevents jewelry from tangling or scratching each other.
Silver
Treat your silver well, care for it properly and it will reward you with a long life and a lustrous look.
Store your silver in a cool, dry place, preferably in a tarnish-preventive bag or wrapped in a soft piece of felt or cloth.
Don’t wear sterling silver in chlorinated water or when working with household chemicals.
Platinum
The attraction of platinum, aside from its sheer beauty, is that because of the metal’s dense molecular structure, very little volume is lost when platinum is scratched. Practically, platinum does not wear down.
Clean regularly with jewelry cleaner specially formulated for gold and platinum jewelry or a solution of mild soap and warm water.
Do not soak or brush delicate gemstones that are mounted in your platinum jewelry such as opal, tanzanite, emerald or topaz.
