Antique jewelry can easily be cleaned at home without the need of expensive products or special tools. Here is a little guide that will show you how.
Gold, Silver and Platinum
According to an item’s age and design, the bulk of antique jewelry is made of gold, silver, and less frequently platinum, or even a combination of these metals.
All three metals remain the most widely used for making jewelry and are ideally suited for doing so, especially gold and silver, which due to their malleability and yielding qualities have given jewelers the ability to work with precious metals for thousands of years before the industrial revolution, when the use of far harder metals like platinum became more prevalent as the technologies and machinery developed at this time made doing so more feasible.
The fact that none of the three metals are unbreakable should be made known. Since all three of these metals may be cleaned with warm (not hot) soapy water, it is important to know how to do this in order to maintain antique jewelry made of gold, silver, or platinum. Just keep in mind to use mild, everyday soap and to stay away from chemicals, particularly those that contain chlorine and/or bleach.
Jewelry with inlaid stones
When cleaning gold that is less than 18 carats in purity, this is particularly true. Because it is an alloy, gold that is less than 18 carats is much more likely to corrode when exposed to severe chemicals. Higher-carat gold is also much softer than gold alloy. Therefore, use caution when cleaning your jewelry; antique pieces are those that have already endured.
There is nothing worse than losing an item down the plug hole, hence it is of utmost importance to warn anyone attempting to clean ancient stones or antique stone inlay jewelry against doing so over the sink. To wash your jewelry, always use a bowl filled with water set on a table rather than a sink.
Additionally, old stones placed into jewelry might break away from their settings. For this reason, always take a time to make sure all stones are snugly placed in their settings before cleaning an antique jewelry item. Never wash anything that has loose stones in it since water and abrasion can cause the stone to entirely fall out.
