Jewellery
The one household object where cleaning it is subtractive. Every polish takes metal away, and on anything plated there is a finite amount to take.
Start here
What this is, what goes wrong with it, and where CleaningHQ can help.
Made from
What tends to go wrong
The only contaminant in this catalogue that is made of the surface it is on. Removing it always removes metal.
Why it is difficult: Coating thickness
- Skin oil· no method established yet
The soil that arrives everywhere a person touches, gets darker as it ages, and is the reason a clean-looking surface still feels tacky.
The science behind this: Where tarnish actually comes from, Polishing removes metal, Coating thickness
In detail
Conservation guidance states what no retailer page does: cleaning and polishing REMOVE ORIGINAL METAL. That reorganises the whole question. A piece polished monthly is being consumed, and the wish behind the habit — for metal to be bright — is named as the commonest cause of over-cleaning. Metal cleaners compound it, because they may leave residues that generate further corrosion. On a plated piece the arithmetic is brutal. Plating is a finite thickness, and a conservation leaflet on another plated object puts it plainly: such surfaces can be very thin, and are probably already worn thin from previous polishing. There is no way to put it back. So the useful routine is preventive. Handle it less, and where it has been handled a jeweller's cloth will buff fingerprints off uncoated metal — one with NO abrasive, relying on the stiffness of its weave. Store it away from sulphur, the strongest tarnishing agent, which comes out of wool, felt, foam rubber and paint as well as city air. A wool-lined box is a tarnishing environment. Where a piece is set with stones, pearls or shell, or where the composition is uncertain, the conservation answer is a specialist rather than a method.
What works
Detergent is safe on, in specific conditions, Jewellery
Safe only in specific conditions
This is only appropriate within specific limits. Outside those limits, CleaningHQ makes no claim.
Only within these limits:
- Warm water with a little mild detergent, a soft brush, and dried thoroughly
- NOT where the piece is set with stones, pearls or shell, or where the composition is uncertain — that is a specialist's question
- No polish, no dip and no impregnated cloth on anything plated
The mildest thing that works is the right thing every time here, because the alternative is subtractive: cleaning and polishing remove original metal, and on plate there is a finite amount to remove.
Precautions
- Test on an inconspicuous area first
Why we say this
Supported
Conditional and narrow. The clearance is for washing; it is explicitly not a clearance for polishing, dipping or for a piece with anything set into it.
Sources
Museum Handbook Part I, Appendix O: Curatorial Care of Metal Objects
National Park Service, US Department of the Interior, 2002 · Reference work
Relied on for: That cleaning and polishing remove original metal, that proprietary cleaning products contain ammonia, weak acids or bases, solvents, waxes and fats that may adversely affect metal objects, and that a non-abrasive cloth is preferred for fingerprints. (states this directly)
Verification: a person has read the passage relied on.
Read on — Sections on metals and alloys, surface treatments, identification, corrosion, atmospheric pollution, cleaning and deterioration, handling, and protective coatings. Supports a wider statement — our claim was widened. Gives the register gold and gold plating without a single retailer claim, and supplies two facts no consumer source carries: that wool and felt are tarnishing environments, and that a jeweller's cloth works by weave stiffness rather than by abrasive. It also independently confirms the polishing-removes-metal mechanism this catalogue has carried since Sprint 12.
Caring for your collections: Silver and plate
The Institute of Conservation (Icon) · Trade or professional body
Relied on for: That washing with a mild detergent and thorough drying precedes any consideration of polishing, and that uncertain composition goes to a specialist. (states this directly)
Verification: a person has read the passage relied on.
Read on — The tarnish, cleaning, and methods-to-avoid sections. Supports the claim as stated.
Last reviewed by a person on .
Why
- Jewellery is explained by Where tarnish actually comes from
Related
- Jewellery is made from Gold
- Jewellery is made from Gold plate and vermeil
- Jewellery is made from Sterling silver
- Jewellery is commonly affected by Tarnish
- Jewellery is commonly affected by Skin oil
Sources for this page
Sources
Museum Handbook Part I, Appendix O: Curatorial Care of Metal Objects
National Park Service, US Department of the Interior, 2002 · Reference work
Relied on for: That cleaning and polishing remove original metal, that over-cleaning comes from wanting metals bright, that metal cleaners may leave residues generating further corrosion, that sulfur compounds are the strongest tarnishing agents and come from foam rubber, carpet padding, paints, wool and felt, and that a jeweller's cloth containing no abrasive may buff fingerprints from uncoated metal. (states this directly)
Verification: a person has read the passage relied on.
Read on — Sections on metals and alloys, surface treatments, identification, corrosion, atmospheric pollution, cleaning and deterioration, handling, and protective coatings. Supports a wider statement — our claim was widened. Gives the register gold and gold plating without a single retailer claim, and supplies two facts no consumer source carries: that wool and felt are tarnishing environments, and that a jeweller's cloth works by weave stiffness rather than by abrasive. It also independently confirms the polishing-removes-metal mechanism this catalogue has carried since Sprint 12.
Caring for your collections: Silver and plate
The Institute of Conservation (Icon) · Trade or professional body
Relied on for: That where the composition of a piece is uncertain the reader is directed to a specialist rather than to a method. (states this directly)
Verification: a person has read the passage relied on.
Read on — The tarnish, cleaning, and methods-to-avoid sections. Supports the claim as stated.
What CleaningHQ cannot answer yet
These are recorded questions about this subject that we have not yet researched to a standard we would publish.
- Cleaning a set piece with non-metal components
- Safety of ultrasonic cleaning for jewellery
- Assess toothpaste as a jewellery cleaner
- Abrasion risk of bicarbonate on gold
Last reviewed by a person on .