How to Clean Old Jewelry and Bring Back the Sparkle and Shine

Face it. Even the most beautiful jewelry can often get dull, dirty, and out of style. But there is a quick fix to this dilemma. You'll be wearing your stones again in no time.

1

Inspect the stones (using gloves if need be). No matter what kind of stone it has, you need to make sure it is not loose before you clean the piece. Take your finger or a hairpin (any small pointy object) and try to see if you can wiggle each stone around in its setting.

2

Make sure there is no foil on the back of the stone. If there is, 'do not immerse in water. It will lose its foil.

3

Do a test cleaning. If your piece has small, foil-backed stones, you have to carefully wipe the tops of the stones with a damp cloth, being careful that no water seeps onto the mounting.

4

Clean the piece. Assuming that there are no foil-backs and the stones are all secure, you must still proceed with caution at this stage. Test the smallest end of the piece by immersing it in a solution of 1/2 cup of warm water, 2-3 drops of dishwashing soap, and a couple drops of ammonia.

5

Take the end out of the solution and gently scrub it with a soft toothbrush, and rinse the end under warm tap water. Be careful not to let the water fly onto the rest of the piece.

6 Dry the end and inspect again. Is it shinier? Are the stones okay? If so, you can immerse the entire piece and use your toothbrush to loosen the grime and rinse the piece under warm water. Repeat as needed and dry.

7

Use toothpicks and pipecleaners for really shining between stones.

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How to Choose Jewelry: 9 Steps (with Pictures)

How to Choose Jewelry

Choosing your jewelry is no different than choosing your wardrobe. Most important is to stick within your comfort zone and your personal fashion style. That said, it never hurts to step out of the box once in a while.

What's most important is that your jewelry matches up with your outfit. Your jewelry is the finishing touch on your total look. Make your fashion statement count!

1

Determine what you want your jewelry to do. Do you want it front and center stage? Do you want it to compliment? Do you want it subtle?

2

Make certain your jewelry is appropriate for the occasion or event you'll be wearing it to. A sexy oversized choker might be perfect for a night on the town but may not be fitting for the boardroom.

3

Determine how long you want it to last and how often you plan to wear it.

4

Know how much money you want to spend.When you are buying jewelry, this is always the big question - how much you plan to spend. You might like a pair of diamond solitaire earrings, but do you actually want to spend that much. There are so many jewelry options that are available these days. Once you decide on your budget, jewelry selection becomes much easier and organized.

5

If you can, try on the jewelry or hold it up next to you to determine whether it suits you.

6

Determine if you prefer handcrafted jewelry or not.

7

Determine the jewelry metal you like (Silver, Gold etc.)

8

Determine the jewelry style and benefits that comes with it:

9

For example have a beautiful look but also a great spiritual value for the wearer. It attracts positive energy while eliminating negative energy from our body and soul.

TIPS:

• People sometimes like to make a statement and decide to wear jewelry with meaning behind it. It's a lovely way to show your history or beliefs. A good example of this is the symbol of an inverted hand, where the hand extended forward is a symbol of divine force. Another example, is Celtic jewelry where the Celtic knots can symbolise the eternity of life.
• Have some gold plate or gold tone pieces in your wardrobe basics also. 10-14k gold may be a bit too pricey for many but gold plated jewelry is quite affordable and will give you good value for the cost. Gold, like silver, can be dressed up or dressed down and is perfect for a very classy look.
• When purchasing earrings, realize that the shapes and styles are endless - from dangles to chandeliers to hoops to studs to buttons. There are materials from enamel to beads to gems to metal to wood. The size of the earrings is very important to the statement you're making. The larger the earring, the more noticeable and the more incorporated they become into your total look. Large earrings aren't for everyone - depending on your face size and shape they may actually detract rather than attract. Experiment and find what looks best on you.
• Your jewelry choices are endless - no matter what your tastes, your likes, your dislikes. You'll be able to complete your look just the way you want it with little effort. So be sure to make your fashion statement!
• Costume Jewelry, both signed and unsigned, is an affordable way to complete your look. Costume Jewelry can be bought for a low price and has plenty of life. Heck, we see costume jewelry back to the 1920s still in excellent condition. What's great with costume jewelry is you can use it, get tired of it, put it away or give it away and have still gotten good value for your money.
• When purchasing necklaces, be certain you know your neck size so that you get a good fit. This is very important when purchasing online as you don't get a chance to try it on. If your neck is average in size then a 16" necklace will look great, however if you have a somewhat larger than average neck then a 16" necklace could be too tight. Measure the length of some of your favourite necklaces you already own. This will give you a good indication of what length you prefer. Opera necklaces which are over 30" are terrific. They can be double wrapped, knotted, or whatever else your imagination comes up with. When choosing colored necklaces, make sure to pick a color that complements your skin tone. It may match your outfit fabulously but if it doesn't match or complement your skin tone your look could be lost.
• When purchasing a wide band ring , you should consider a larger size for the same finger (used to wear narrow band ring).
• Although you may have a favorite designer, there's really no need to stick with just one. In fact, there's no need for the pieces to actually be designer. There are plenty of wonderful pieces on the market that are unsigned but certainly make a fashion statement. Mix and match your jewelry to give it character and a little pizazz!
• When purchasing rings, you can have great fun - again the choices are endless from large and overwhelming to dainty and feminine. The length and size of your fingers plays an important role in what will look good. For example, long skinny fingers don't look good with huge oversized rings, yet on a woman that has long thicker fingers they look exquisite. Long nails? Short nails? it all makes a difference. Play and see what you like, and what looks good. Also, determine where you will be wearing these rings. For example, if you're working around fine fabrics, you'll not want any rings that have sharp edges that could snag. Your rings are also part of your total statement.
• Designer pieces tend to cost a little more, last a little longer, and they usually follow more traditional lines so you can wear them for more than one or two seasons.

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Top 10 Most Expensive Gemstone in The World

1 .

     Throughout history, humans have adorned themselves with jewelry - first made from bits of shell, bone and sparkly rocks, and later, with gems set in copper, silver and gold. 

     It takes millions of years for crystals to form in nature, and only a fraction of those will ever be found, mined, cut and sold as gemstones. The value of gemstones depends on many factors, including rarity, quality, setting, and even politics. Dig in to the world of incredibly expensive jewels with our rundown of ten of the world's rarest and most valuable gemstones.

2 .

    Found only in the foothills of Mount Kilimanjaro, in Northern Tanzania, this blue-purple stone is another highly prized color-shifting gem.

    Due to the limited availability, Tanzanite may be mined out within 20-30 years. It will doubtless become even more desirable...and valuable.

Composition: Calcium, Aluminum, Silicon, Hydrogen, Oxygen | Market Value: $600-$1,000 per carat.

3 .

     Taaffeite (pronounced "tar-fite") is named for Australian gemologist Richard Taaffe, who discovered a cut and polished specimen of the stone in 1945. Only a handful of these precious stones have ever been found, making them a true collector's gem.

      Found in range of hues ranging from nearly colorless to lavender, mauve and violet, Taaffeite occurs in Sri Lanka and Tanzania. Other sources may be discovered, but until then, Taaffeite remains one of the rarest and most valuable gems in the world.

Composition: Magnesium, Beryllium, Aluminum, Oxygen | Market Value: $1500-$2500 per carat.

4 .

     The rarest type of Opal, the national gemstone of Australia, Black Opal is also the most valuable gem of its kind. Almost all available Black Opal comes from the Lightning Ridge mine in New South Wales.

     The brilliant play of color, or "fire," in these dark gems, along with their relative scarcity, causes them to be worth over $2300 per carat.

Composition: Silicon, Hydrogen, Oxygen | Market Value: $2,355 per carat.

5 .

     Found near the San Benito River in California, Benitoite is a blue to purple gemstone first discovered in 1907. Under UV lights, it glows a brilliant chalky blue. A few specimens have been found in Arkansas and Japan, but the only commercial mine is in San Benito County, California.

     In addition to being the official state gem of California, Benitoite is a coveted collectors' gem, and is also sold in jewelry, though rarely available in sizes of one carat or more.

Composition: Barium, Titanium, Silicon, Oxygen | Market Value: $3000-$4000 per carat.

6 .

    Also called Scarlet Emerald or bixbite, Red Beryl has only been found in Utah and New Mexico and the only commercial mine is found in the Wah Wah Mountains of Utah.

    Red Beryl has been described as 1,000 times more valuable than gold: cut stones regularly sell for more than $2,000 per carat - and as much as $10,000 per carat.

Composition: Beryllium, Aluminum, Silicon, Oxygen | Market Value: $10,000 per carat.

7 .

     Named for Tsar Alexander II of Russia, this exceedingly rare gemstone was thought to be mined out after the original deposits, found in 1830 in Russia's Ural Mountains, were nearly exhausted. 

     Alexandrite is a color-changing gemstone: its hue shifts from red to green depending on the light it's exposed to. 

Recent finds in Brazil, East Africa and Sri Lanka have brought this stone back on the market, but it is still one of the world's most coveted stones. 

Composition: Beryllium, Aluminum, Oxygen | Market Value: $12,000 per carat.

8 .

     Jadeite may sound like the various semi-precious stones known informally as "jade," but this incredibly rare gem is many times more valuable. Prized most when it is colored a deep, translucent green, Jadeite is mainly found in limited quantities in Myanmar.

     In 1997, Christie's auction house sold a Jadeite necklace for nearly $10 million. The highest quality "Imperial" Jadeite can sell for millions of dollars per carat when cut and polished. Sadly, many traders have passed off color-treated stones as true Jadeite.

Composition: Sodium, Aluminum, Iron, Silicon, Oxygen | Market Value: $20,000 per carat.

9 .

      Another precious stone in the same family as Taaffeite, this stone's color ranges from a brilliant greenish gray to purple. Musgravite was discovered in 1967 in the Musgrave Range of Southern Australia, and for many years there were only eight known specimens. 

     Recently, small quantities of Musgravite have been located in Greenland, Antarctica, Sri Lanka, Madagascar and Tanzania. Don't let this new "surplus" fool you, though: this incredibly hard stone is still exceedingly rare, fetching $35,000 - or more - per carat.

Composition: Magnesium, Beryllium, Aluminum, Zinc, Iron, Oxygen | Market Value: $35,000 per carat.

10 .

      In the 1950s, minerologist Arthur C.D. Paine encountered an unusual brownish stone in Myanmar (Burma) that turned out to be one of the planet's rarest gems. For decades, only two cut specimens were known to exist, causing the jewel to be more or less "priceless." 

      In recent years, a few more crystals have been found. If you're lucky enough to find one on the market, expect to pay $50,000 to $60,000 per carat for this orange- to red-brown gem.

Composition: Calcium, Zirconium, Boron, Aluminum, Oxygen | Market Value: $50,000-$60,000 per carat.

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How to Clean Your Silver Jewelry at Home

       Silver is a versatile metal with a soft luster that makes for beautiful jewelry. Unfortunately, silver is also pretty fragile compared to many more commonly-used metals, and it can quickly develop tarnish, stains, or scratches. It can also be a bit intimidating to try to clean silver pieces because they are so delicate. However, you don't have to be a professional or use expensive tools to clean your silver yourself. See Step 1 to learn how to clean your silver jewellery.

Method 1 of 3: Making a Salt Bath

1

Pour two cups of hot water into a bowl. You just need enough to cover the jewelry you're cleaning. This method works as a gentle cleanser that removes tarnish without abrading the silver. If your silver is lightly tarnished, the salt bath should take the tarnish right off.

• If you're cleaning a lot of jewelry at once, you can use more water. For just one piece of jewelry, use less water.
• If your jewelry has gemstones, make sure they won't be affected by being submerged in a saltwater solution. This solution is gentle on most stones, but if you're cleaning very fine jewelry with expensive gemstones, you're better off taking it to a professional just in case.

1. 2
   Add salt and aluminum foil. Stir one tablespoon of salt it into the hot water with a spoon until it completely dissolves. Take a sheet of aluminum foil and tear off a few strips, then put them in the bowl. The combination of salt and aluminum will react with the tarnish on the silver's surface and create a bright, shiny surface in place of the tarnish.

   • Tarnish happens when the surface of silver combines with sulfur and turns into silver sulfide, which is black. When silver sulfide reacts with aluminum in a salt solution, the chemical reaction between the substances turns the silver sulfide back to silver. The reaction happens faster when the solution is warm.
   • If you don't have table salt on hand, you can use baking soda instead. It has the right properties to facilitate the same chemical reaction.

3

Submerge your jewelry in the solution. Allow it to sit for 5 minutes. Stir it around a bit to see whether the tarnish is going away. When you see that the silver's shine has been restored, remove the silver from the solution.

• If you're working with deeply tarnished silver, you might need to repeat the process two or more times. Make sure the solution is completely heated, since the reaction is much slower if the solution is cool.

4

Rinse the jewelry. Run it under cool running water to rinse off the salt, then gently dry it using a soft cloth or microfiber towel. The jewelry should be good as new. If you still see signs of tarnish, repeat the process until it looks clean.

Method 2 of 3: Deep Cleaning Silver Jewelry

1

Purchase a silver polish. When tarnish develops on silver, a simple salt and aluminum bath may not suffice to remove it. Specially formulated silver jewelry polishes are your safest option for polishing silver jewelry, especially if you are dealing with an antique or a piece that has intricate designs etched into it.

• Even special polishes can remove a layer of silver, so get a professional cleaning if you're dealing with a delicate piece.
• Instead of buying silver polish from the drugstore, consider getting it from a jewelry store or a store with a high-quality jewelry department.

2

Rub the jewelry with a little polish. Moisten a soft silver-polishing cloth or the sponge included with the silver polish and take a little bit of polish onto the cloth. Rub the polish into the silver jewelry gently. Use only a straight-line, back-and-forth motion. Avoid scrubbing or rubbing in circles, since this can leave scratches or patterns in the surface of the jewelry. Just let the polish do the job.

3

Rinse and dry the silver jewelry. Rinse it under cool running water. Be sure to clean off all of the polish residue so it won't continue working on the surface of the jewelry. Dry it completely using a soft cloth.

4

Consider using common household products for less rare or less valuable pieces. They will usually work to remove tough tarnish, but may cause damage such as pock marks or scratches. Try them at your own risk.

• Try toothpaste. Select a plain white toothpaste without the special whitening options. Take a soft, dampened cloth or a damp sponge and put some toothpaste on it. Gently rub over the silver jewelry in straight, back-and-forth motions. Be very gentle, and if you notice scratching at any point, stop and rinse the toothpaste off. As the cloth or sponge becomes dark with tarnish, add more toothpaste to a clean part of the dampened cloth/sponge and continue gently polishing. Rinse thoroughly with warm water and dry with a soft towel.

Baking soda may remove stubborn tarnish, but don't use it unless you don't mind the risk of damaging the silver. Make a paste of baking soda and warm water, gently rub it into the surface of the jewelry, and rinse when the tarnish is removed.

5

Try a silver dip. Commercial silver "dips" can dissolve stains without rubbing the silver jewelry, although they may take off a layer of silver. For this reason, they should only be used as a last resort. Contrary to what the word "dip" implies, professionals rarely actually soak silver in these products, at least not for long. Dips are generally harsh, potentially dangerous chemicals, so follow the directions carefully and consult a professional when in doubt.

Method 3 of 3: Maintaining Your Jewelry

1

Clean it often. Clean your silver jewelry often, and clean it promptly after use. Silver jewelry that is frequently used rarely has tarnish problems. When tarnish is not yet present, or when it's just beginning to develop, simply wash your silver jewelry in warm (not hot) water with a gentle, phosphate-free detergent.

• Prompt cleaning is especially important when the silver jewelry has been exposed to certain foods containing sulfur, or those which are acidic or salty. In particular, common foods such as table salt, eggs, some fruits, onions, mayonnaise, and vinegar are harmful to silver.
• In any case, wash your silver jewelry right away or at least rinse it well with warm water, and don't leave silver sitting in dishwater that may contain traces of these foods.

2

Wash it separately. It's a good idea to wash silver separately from your other silver pieces, like bowls or silverware, because metal sinks and utensils can scratch silver jewelry.

• You should also avoid using rubber gloves when washing silver, as rubber corrodes silver jewelry.

• Stainless steel can also damage the finish if it comes into contact with your silver jewelry, so avoid putting it in the sink; use a bowl to wash it in instead.

3 Dry it with a polishing cloth. Use a special polishing cloth or simply a soft, lint-free cloth to gently rub the silver clean after washing. Make sure it gets completely dry.

• Silver can be so soft that even using a scratchy, rough towel could be enough to make indentations in its surface. Make sure to use a soft cloth.
• As you dry the jewelry, gently buff the shine back with a soft cotton cloth.

4

Store your silver jewelry correctly. Beyond prompt and frequent cleaning, the best way to preserve your silver is to store it correctly. Make sure each piece is completely dry before storing it. You can buy special bags for storing silver jewelry that prevent them from getting tarnished. If you don't have the bags, use this technique:

• Wrap each piece of silverware in acid-free tissue paper or anti-tarnish paper. You can also wrap pieces in flannel.

Store the silver in a compartment separate from the rest of your jewelry. Never store silver jewelry where it can contact rubber, stainless steel, or paint.

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