Tips on how to make your jewelry last Forever. Well, almost…

I don’t do repairs anymore, but through the years one item constantly turned up as needing repair – Chains. With prices of silver and gold rising through the stratosphere, it came to mind that caring for your favorite jewelry is more important than ever. 

Let’s talk about gold chains because so many people wear several and never take them off.  Bodily fluids and lotions and soap scum will build up on fragile metal links that wear against each other, creating an abrasive action which causes links to wear out and eventually break. When one link breaks it may be repaired, but it signals more will follow, and this is

expensive and impractical to fix.  Your chain will be relegated to the scrap pile.

Of course your scrap pile of jewelry that is no longer wearable is worth something, but that’s the subject for another day.

Back to that gold chain – Chains prices are currently very high.  You’ll never be able to replace a chain for the amount you paid years ago.  A 14K yellow gold light weight chain could easily be 4 or 5 times what it cost originally. 18K gold is softer, may wear faster, and is even more expensive due to its higher gold content.

Here are two simple things that will help prolong the life of your chains

1.   Take them off at the end of every day! Don’t wear them in the shower or in bed.

2.    Keep them clean!  Every so often soak chains for 15-20 minutes in very hot tap water with a generous squirt of dish soap and a capful or two of ammonia.  

You might run a soft toothbrush over the chain to loosen dirt, rinse and dry well. You’ll be amazed at how much brighter they look.

This goes for silver chains too. Cleaning does help, but you may have areas of dark gray oxidation on silver that won’t go away without a chemical dipping solution at a jewelry store.

The soapy water and ammonia will work really well on your diamond rings too. Though they will be harder to clean, and would benefit from a qualified jeweler checking them closely, to see if prongs need tightening or re-tipping, etc.   Do not soak anything with turquoise, opals,  pearls, emeralds, coral or other soft stones in that solution.