How to clean your Silver Jewelry

Rub with a lengthwise motion, never clean in a circular motion because this may cause scratches.  Many will leave the tarnish in the deep crevices to enhance the look of the piece.  However, if you want to remove the tarnish to hard to reach areas, use a very soft brush like a child's tooth brush or a jewelry horse hair silver brush.  A mushroom brush works well for this and can be found at most grocery stores.  After cleaning with a silver polish, use a clean cloth to remove any residual cleaner from your jewelry.

Remember that all metal cleaners have some type of small abrasive particles that help them to clean and will inevitably cause some form of fine scratches.  These are not that obvious and after a time will blend with the fine scratches just from wearing the piece and are not that obvious.  They will still have a beautiful soft sheen that is prized by many. 

Don't feel that you have to get every bit of tarnish from lines and crevices.  Leaving some of the tarnish in hard to reach areas just adds definition and an antique look.  In fact, many of our pieces are oxidized to give it that look.

If you wear your sterling silver jewelry regularly, your body oils help to keep the tarnishing down and cleaning to a minimum. 

Careful not to scratch the surface  The polished sheen was produced by the skilled hands of silversmiths that spent time filing, sanding and buffing the sterling silver piece to a perfectly flat surface.  It is the light reflecting off this flat surface that gives it the shine.  If you put tiny scratches into the surface you diminish the sheen because the light isn't able to bounce off the surface as well as it once did.  So do protect your sterling silver jewelry from excessive scratches.  If you have pieces that have been abused and are terribly scratched, you should consult a bench jeweler to see if they can be re-polished to remove them and return it to it's original or close to original luster. 

Please use soft cotton cloth, soft sponges or soft bristle brushes to clean your sterling silver, if in doubt, test a small area in an area that isn't obvious and clean that area, and wipe dry.  Inspect it under a strong light to see if the brush you have chosen, left any scratches or not.  

Using a spray polish 

Use a soft bristle brush, like a child's soft tooth brush, a mushroom brush, or jewelry horse hair brush, and a little mild soap like Dove. Clean well and then spray on the Hagerty's Polishing Spray or other spray polish. Let it dry for a couple of minutes then rub off with a 100% cotton, soft cloth, like an old tee shirt. If there is turquoise or other soft porous gemstones in the jewelry, be careful to keep the spray off the gemstones.  We would recommend spraying the cleaner directly on the cloth and rubbing the area around the gemstone with the cloth and cleanser to avoid spraying the gemstone.  Polish it to a shine with the soft brush or soft cotton cloth and buff to a shine.  This is quick and easy!

Using the a Silver Wash cleaner 

Simply apply the wash to a soft sponge or directly to the item with your fingers and wash it like you would a fragile dish. I use a circular motion, which seems to work best for me.  It only takes seconds, it will work up into a foam, then when you feel you have removed the tarnish, rinse in cool water and polish to a shine with a soft cotton cloth.  It is really easy and quick.  This is my preferred method.  If it has jewels, you may want to clean afterwards with the Hagerty Delicate Jewel Clean, dry with the soft cotton cloth. 

Using a sterling silver paste or liquid cleaner  Always follow manufacturers directions, but basically you just apply it to all silver areas, avoiding gemstones, let it dry and then polish clean with a soft cotton cloth.  You may have to rinse it with cool water to help remove all the cleaner.

To use baking soda or toothpaste or not  Using toothpaste or baking soda seems to be controversial.  I have been researching this and some say yes and others say NO!  The argument is that the baking soda and toothpaste are too abrasive.  Use at your own risk.  I say if in doubt . . . don't.  Therefore, I recommend against using them.  Stick to a trusted silver cleaner. You would hate to have to have your pieces professionally buffed and refinished.  I, however, have found that it dulls and scratches the finish in my tests, so I don't use it.  Our preference is the Sunshine Polishing Cloth and Hagerty's Spray Polish or Wash Foam Cleanser.

However, if you wish to use backing soda here is what you should do:  Barely moisten your sterling silver jewelry with water.  Place in the palm of your hand and pour a liberal amount of baking soda over your jewelry and rub gently with your fingertips. Continue doing this until you remove all the tarnish. Rinse with cool water and dry. 

Toothpaste is mainly recommended for gold, not silver. Use an old soft toothbrush, dampen and scrub lengthwise as recommended to reduce the chance for scratches and marring the surface.  Rinse in cool water. Remember that toothpaste has abrasive material in it.

Remember that we do not recommend the use of baking soda or toothpaste methods, but many respected jewelers see no problem with it, so be cautious should you decide to try this method.  

Your sterling silver jewelry is a metal that is meant to be worn.  If you just leave it laying around, it will tarnish. To prevent tarnishing while your not wearing it, store your jewelry in a plastic zip lock bag or approved jewelry bags. 

If its just a silver piece and doesn't have any stones it is ok to use an ultrasonic cleaner, however, if the piece has turquoise or other semi-precious gemstones the stones very likely will crumble away to nothing or will sometimes turn black in the ultrasonic cleaner.  

Unfortunately, everything changes with time, use and wear.  I need only to look in the mirror to be reminded of that fact.  Your sterling silver or beaded gemstone jewelry is no different.  There are several things we recommend doing to help prolong the life of your jewelry.

1. Keep them clean.  It is much easier to remove tarnish and soil when it is minimal.  If you allow your jewelry to turn black with tarnish, it may damage the metal.  The longer you go between cleanings the harder it is to restore it to it's original luster.  So best to keep it clean with a polishing cloth and to store in an air tight back, such as a zip-lock bag, to keep tarnish down.  Or better yet wear them, this helps keep tarnish down.  See the care and cleaning section above.

2. Always remove your jewelry before using any product that contains bleach, ammonia, alcohol, fingernail polish removers that contain acetone, and turpentine. Some of these can cause a breakdown in the metal alloys leaving the your jewelry beyond repair and dull or even pit the surface of your gemstones. 

3. Clean before storing and store in the proper manner.  See instructions on storing above.  Avoid storing your sterling silver jewelry directly on wood surfaces, because wood usually contains acids that can mar the finish.  Do not place in a card board box or on paper as they have sulfur producing compounds in them that increase the rate of oxidation.

4. Keep tarnish to a minimum by storing properly and cleaning before they get overly tarnished.  When your jewelry needs to be cleaned follow the recommend cleaning methods above.

5. Check for loose stones or parts and have them repaired right away so as not to loose any stones or parts.  With normal wear and tear, stones may loosen over time.  If a stone rocks in its setting you will need to tighten the bezel around the stone to prevent loss of your precious gemstones.  You can usually tighten these yourself, if you use special care.  The back of a spoon works well to run it a long the bezel to press it down on the gemstone and tighten it again.  It is always advisable to consult a local jeweler to tighten the bezel to be on the safe side and doesn't cost hardly anything.

It is our prayer that you get many years out of your silver.

Thank you for letting us help!