How to Take Care of Your Jewellery

Clean gently with a soft toothbrush and mild soap, remove jewellery before sleeping, swimming or exercising and store pieces separately to avoid scratching.

These simple steps will help keep your jewellery looking fantastic for as long as possible, however, some jewellery materials need special attention. Read on for full advice on caring for gold, silver and gemstone jewellery.

Everyday Jewellery Care

If you care properly for your jewellery, it will look fantastic for years to come. While some things will need to be done by a professional jeweller, there are some things you can do at home to keep your pieces in good condition.

Here are some of the questions we get asked most about jewellery care and some advice to get you started:

How do I clean my jewellery?

• Most pieces of jewellery can be cleaned with a soft toothbrush, warm water and a small amount of washing up liquid. Some gemstones are sensitive to heat so avoid using water that is too hot. (If you buy one of our pieces, we will let you know if you need to take particular care when cleaning it.)  

When should I take my jewellery off?

• Take jewellery off when you go to bed. This is especially important for fine chains which are easily stretched.

• Take jewellery off when doing an activity which could scratch your jewellery or it could be easily knocked. Precious metals are relatively soft and gemstones can break (even diamonds).

• Avoid allowing chemicals to come into contact with your jewellery. This includes chlorine which can damage the metals that gold is commonly alloyed with. Therefore it's a good idea to take gold jewellery off when swimming and in hot tubs.

• Pay particular attention to gemstones like opals and pearls. They are particularly vulnerable and may be damaged by the chemicals in perfumes or body lotions, so allow everything to dry before putting your jewellery back on.

How should I store my jewellery?

• When storing jewellery, keep pieces separately from one another so they don’t get damaged. A diamond can scratch any other gemstones (including other diamonds) and precious metals. Be particularly careful with softer and organic gemstones, like pearls.

Looking after silver jewellery

To keep it looking at its best, sterling silver tends to need a bit more looking after than gold or platinum. It will tarnish when exposed to certain chemicals, perspiration, cosmetics and humid conditions.

Here are some tips for keeping your sterling silver jewellery looking its best:

• Remove your sterling silver jewellery when swimming in pools or the sea and when using hot tubs or saunas.

• Try to keep your silver jewellery from coming into contact with cosmetics, particularly perfumes.

• Remove your silver jewellery when exercising or using household cleaning products.

• Use a silver cloth periodically to help prevent tarnishing.

• Store your silver in a box when not wearing it and consider placing a small packet of desiccant crystals inside the box if the humidity levels are high.

My silver jewellery is already tarnished and/or dirty - what do I do?

• For jewellery that has become tarnished, use a silver dip cleaning product. Follow the instructions carefully and remember to rinse the cleaner off thoroughly before drying the piece completely. Please note that silver dips can damage some gemstones, so check before you use it.

• Use a soft toothbrush and mild detergent along with lukewarm water to clean pieces that have accumulated dirt. Dry the piece thoroughly after cleaning.

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Get your jewellery checked by a jeweller

It’s a good idea to take your jewellery to a professional jeweller regularly so they can check for any issues and give it a good clean and polish at the same time.

This is a service we offer, so get in touch using the form at the bottom of this page if you have some pieces you’d like checked and cleaned. (Please don’t send us a piece without letting us know first.)

Our jewellery care service includes:

Initial assessment

• Checking for any damage to the piece including gemstones.

• Checking for worn or damaged settings and missing claws that put you at risk of losing a gemstone.

• Checking that gemstones aren’t loose in their settings.

• Checking that catches, clasps and hinges are still working properly.  

• Checking the condition of the plating on white gold. 

Once we’ve completed our assessment we will be in touch to  advise you on how best to proceed and with a quote for completing the work.

Cleaning, restoration or repair work

• Complete any necessary repairs.

• Clean the piece in a manner suited to the materials. 

• If appropriate, polish the piece. 

• If appropriate, re-plate the piece.

We can usually restore a piece to be as bright and shiny as the day you bought it. Some people prefer to leave a bit of the wear visible for sentimental reasons which we will of course accommodate (as long as there are no structural risks). Please let us know if this is the case. 

If it’s one of our pieces we offer this service for free (excluding postage if you’re sending it to us).

Insuring your Jewellery

We do recommend that you insure your jewellery.

You may have a home contents insurance policy that covers items of jewellery up to a certain amount. Check your policy and see if any of your pieces need an official valuation document to ensure that they are covered.

Enquire about our Jewellery Care Service