Collecting Costume Jewelry

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Jewelry Care & Storage

 

bulletCaring for Your Antique Jewelry
bulletCaring for Your Costume Jewelry
bullet Storing Your Antique & Costume Jewelry

 

Caring for Your Antique Jewelry

Do as little cleaning of your antique jewelry as possible. If you absolutely must clean a piece of antique jewelry, take it to a responsible and trusted jeweler who also sells antique jewelry. Before leaving your piece of jewelry, talk to the jeweler in length about how they intend to clean or repair your item.

Antique jewelry should never be steam-cleaned or put into an ultrasonic cleaning machine. A steam cleaner is too harsh and will remove the patina that is one of the distinguishing features of antique jewelry. An ultrasonic cleaner works on vibration and can damage your jewelry in a number of ways:

bulletStones may fall out of their settings or crack.
bulletOil may leach out of oiled gemstones.
bulletColor may be pulled out of dyed gemstones.
bulletOrganic gemstones such as coral, tortoiseshell, pearls, amber, jet and soft stones like turquoise and lapis lazuli can be destroyed.
bulletThe foil-back on old rhinestones can be destroyed.
bulletHair jewelry can be destroyed.

If you want to clean away a little dust, do it with a soft baby toothbrush and a soft, dry cloth. Many lockets have pictures inside that may be damaged by wet or damp cleaning.

Enameled jewelry also requires careful handling. Soft enamels may easily be washed out of settings when they are treated harshly. Dampness must be avoided because moisture can activate acid and salts that, if the base metal is copper, can corrode the copper and displace the enamel. Hard enamels may be able to with stand gentle hand cleaning, but the emphasis in on the word gentle.

 

Caring for Your Costume Jewelry

Old costume jewelry, even though it cannot be termed "antique", is however, highly collectible and is available and affordable from estate sales, flea markets, and specialty dealers. As with any antique or collectible, buy the best quality item you can afford and only items you really like.

This type of jewelry has its own special care needs. Collectors use many items for cleaning: soft bristle toothbrush, silver cloth that specifies "safe for gold", chamois cloth, glass cleaner, silver polish, baking soda and just plain water.

Some cleaning procedures:

Brush the piece of jewelry gently with the soft bristle brush to loosen dirt, especially around prongs and settings. Do this over a paper towel so if any stones are loose and fall out, they will fall onto the paper and not be lost. Use silver polish and a clean cloth for sterling and silver plated jewelry. Buff with a chamois cloth. If you are cleaning vermeil (gold layered over silver or other base metals) use only a polishing cloth that is safe for gold. The gold gilt finish will rub off.

Clean crystal jewelry (glass, rhinestone) with open back with glass cleaner. Pat dry with a soft cloth and buff with a chamois. You should not use glass cleaner or any liquid cleaner on foil backed. Moisture can seep between the stone and backing, mildew and destroy the look of the stone. If foil backed stones should get wet, try using a blow dryer to dry up as much moisture as possible to keep mildew to a minimum.

To clean marcasite jewelry, dampen a clean cloth with water and pat in baking soda. Rub gently over the marcasites. This mixture will remove surface discoloration. Be certain to dry thoroughly with a soft cloth.

Clean rhinestones by dampening a towel with glass cleaner, rubbing the towel gently over the stones and drying with a soft cloth.

Just like antique jewelry, costumer jewelry should never be steam-cleaned or put into an ultrasonic cleaning machine. A steam cleaner is too harsh and will remove the patina that is one of the distinguishing features of antique jewelry. An ultrasonic cleaner works on vibration and can damage your jewelry in a number of ways:

bulletStones may fall out of their settings or crack.
bulletOrganic gemstones such as coral, tortoiseshell, pearls, amber, jet and soft stones like turquoise and lapis lazuli can be destroyed.
bulletThe foil-back on old rhinestones can be destroyed.

 

Storing Your Antique & Costume Jewelry

To protect both your fine antique as well as costume jewelry, store it in a clean, dry, dust-free place. A jewelry case with lots of compartments is fine, but a large box is just as effective. Make sure the individual items do not roll around or touch each other in such a way that they will scratch or become entangled with each other. Use tissue paper to wrap your jewelry, never plastic wrap. Plastic wrap traps moisture which can ruin your jewelry over time. Silver especially should never be wrapped in plastic because it can cause discoloration.

Source: The Buyer's Guide to Affordable Antique Jewelry, by Anna M. Miller, published by Citadel Press Books.

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Carol Bell Copyright © 2004 [www.treasures-in-time.com]. All rights reserved.
Revised: 09/22/06.