How to Clean Your Vintage and Antique Jewelry Safely

As you maintain and care for your antique jewelry, the need for cleaning each item will come around sooner than you might realize. With your modern-day jewelry, you may admittedly treat it a little rougher than your antique items when it comes to the cleaning process. This is primarily due to the major concern of damaging the antique options and perhaps causing its retained value to plummet as a result. How exactly do you clean antique and vintage jewelry without being overwhelmed by the concept of damaging it?

Dust off the Vintage Jewelry First and Foremost

Before you concern yourself with which cleaning solution or tool to use, the first step should be to dust off the jewelry as carefully yet efficiently as possible. You could even use a soft brush to remove any small particles from the jewelry before you proceed to the next step of the cleaning process. Remember to approach this step gently. Otherwise, you may risk damaging the surface of the jewelry with the particles that you are trying to remove.

Match the Cleaner with the Stone and Metal Types

While you try to decide which cleaner works best with your antique jewelry, the key is to focus on the metal and stone types used within the item. The effect of one solution versus another will vary greatly depending on the type of cleaner used.

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For instance, you will more than likely not need to use ammonia to clean silver jewelry. A solution that blends a substantial amount of water with ammonia is an ideal mixture for cleaning platinum metals. However, for silver (which is much weaker than platinum) you can dilute baking soda in a water-based solution and gently use that instead.

Remember to Use a Soft Cloth

At times, it may be easy to clean your jewelry with whatever type of cloth, handkerchief or rag you find nearby – especially if you are not used to carrying or cleaning the jewelry in the first place. As mentioned above, you should pay close attention to how you clean the jewelry and the frequency that you follow to ensure you are not causing detrimental (or even permanent) damage to the jewelry. Studies have proven that using a soft cloth (preferably one made of microfibers) is an effective solution to this problem. Instead of applying the cleaning solution directly to the jewelry, you can then apply it to the soft cloth moments before you start cleaning the item. This will save you a considerable amount of time during the cleaning process, but also help you to remember the importance of protecting your antique jewelry from harm.