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How to Care for Your
Silver Jewelry
As in any jewelry including
gold, platinum jewelry studded with diamonds or precious
colored stones, we recommend that you check your jewelry
every 6 months Prongs can wear thin and let stones fall
out. Chains and Pearl Strands weaken with wear. Ring
shanks wear thin through time. With proper care, your
fine quality silver will last a lifetime. Contrary to
popular belief, silver does not tarnish especially
rapidly unless items are left in an atmosphere where
sulphur is present.
Picking your Favorite Silver Jewelry
It is important to consider your lifestyle when
selecting the shape of the stone and the design of the
ring. Be realistic about the wear-and-tear your ring
must make and realize that no piece of jewelry is
indestructible. Silver or precious or semi-precious
stones, Pearls or shells are natural. Therefore, they
are susceptible to natural occurrences. We are well
advised to learn how we can care for our jewelry well to
enjoy for many wonderful occasions and years to come!
Scratches and Tarnish
To minimize scratches and other damage, store your
silver jewelry either in a cloth pouch or in a separate
compartment in your jewelry box. Avoid exposing your
silver to household chemicals when cleaning with bleach
or ammonia, or when swimming in chlorinated water, as
these chemicals can damage silver.
Oxidization
Over time, oxidation reactions will occur naturally,
especially with sulfur and oxygen. Care should also be
taken to prevent silver tarnish buildup, a dulling that
naturally occurs when silver reacts with sulfur or
hydrogen sulfide in the ambient air. To clean your
silver, use polishes formulated specifically to remove
tarnish. You can find fine silver polishes, solutions,
or cloths appropriate to remove tarnish at most hardware
stores or specialty craft stores. Tarnish is most easily
removed when it first becomes visible.
Simply wearing your jewelry helps prevent, or at least
slow, the oxidation process keeping your jewelry looking
new. To minimize scratches, silver jewelry can be stored
in cloth pouches, small zip lock bags, or in separate
compartments in your jewelry box. Although wearing your
silver jewelry often is the best way to prevent tarnish
from building up, regular cleanings of all your silver
items will prevent tarnish and keep your silver bright
and sparkling.
Simple Tips to Go
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Silver is scratch resistant but not scratch-proof
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In addition to the general jewelry care steps, silver
jewelry care can benefit from special silver jewelry
cleaning solutions. Check with your jeweler about these.
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Prevent your silver from being exposed to direct air and
light contact.
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Avoid placing silver in chlorine-containing materials.
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Be selective in what you use to clean your silver, i.e.
pads, cloths, etc. Felt works well, as do special
cleansing cloths designed for silver cleaning. Other
materials, including tissue, should be avoided.
Origins of Silver
The area of Anatolia (modern Turkey) is considered the first major
source of mined silver, having provided the resource to craftsman
throughout Asia Minor. Silver from the Anatolian region largely served
as the source of silver for the Western cultures flourishing in the Near
East, Crete, and Greece. Silver craftsmanship was centered largely in
Asia Minor and Greek Islands...
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History of Silver
Silver has always been held in high esteem and displayed
as a status symbol since it was mined approx. 4,000 BC
in Asia Minor. In the earliest Egyptian records, it was
considered more precious than gold. Interestingly, with
all of silver's magical power...
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The Healing Power of
Silver
In general, Silver is believed to benefit circulation,
help lungs and throat, and detoxify the blood, to aid in
the treatment of degenerative brain diseases, balancing
of hormones and chemicals and improvement of nerve
impulse transmission. They also use it...
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Myths about Silver
Legends of Jewels, Quartz
Mythology, Myths about crystals and myths about jewelry;
Some of those ancient myths and legends have come down
intact through the centuries. Others have evolved and
mutated as result of the input of other cultures...
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Facts about Silver
Silver can be hammered into sheets so thin that it would
take 100,000 of them to stack an inch high. It can be
drawn into a wire finer than a human hair. It is this
ductility (or ability to be formed) that makes silver
the wonderful art form that it is...
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Silver in Medicine
Silver has been used in the
health field since, well, for as long as there has been
a health field. It was used in times of antiquity for
fighting germs and healing tissue, and those uses have
continued to this day. It has been undergoing a rapid
resurgence in use...
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Back to 'All About
Silver' Summary
Sterling silver is an alloy of silver containing 92.5%
pure silver and 7.5% other metals, usually copper.
Sterling silver is the standard for charming beautiful
white cool luster of silver and is the standard for high
quality silver jewelry. The beautiful white metal of
silver has had an illustrious history, at times being
more highly valued than gold. Long used as a medium of
exchange...
Read more...
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