Unfortunately all vintage jewellery will pick up dirt over time.
At Jewels and Finery we recommend cleaning gold and silver jewelry with an appropriate cleaner available for this specific use. The cleaneris available in a liquid or a cloth application from any jewellers.
For some vintage jewellery pieces there are cheaper and easy home products that can be used to clean.
Care should be taken to identify the material used to make your costume or fine jewellery first.
Never immerse a piece of jewellery in water as it can loosen stones or other parts that may have been glued in
For acrylic or plastic vintage jewellery, we use a mild soap solution that has a pleasant smell. Wipe the jewellery with a just damp cloth soaked in the soap solution. Occasionally on very dirty pieces that has grooves, a small soft nail brush can be used.
To bring the sparkle back to crystal or rhinestone costume jewellery use a cotton buds and a window cleaner solution. Dip the cotton bud into the solution. Blot the cotton bud so that is just damp on a cloth or kitchen paper. Clean jewellery with the cotton bud. Dry and buff with the dry end. The difference is amazing and you can get through several cotton buds on a piece that does not look particular dirty.
The above method can be used on plastic vintage jewellery with crystal or metal decorations
Our new toy - an ultrasonic jewellery cleaner - has been a great find. When we first looked at these type of cleaners, the idea of ultrasound cleaning did not inspire us to rush out and buy one. We actually were not convinced that they could clean that well to warrant the expense. But eventually we decided to buy a small one to see if it worked. We were very surprised and delighted to find that it left jewellery clean and sparkling. So if you have plenty of plain jewellery and chains, then have a look at investing in an ultrasonic jewellery cleaner. It does require placing your jewellery in water, so some pieces can not be cleaned by this method.
British Vintage Costume Jewellery Information
British vintage costume jewellery has not the information available as most of the American vintage jewelry has.
Great information is available on Miracle Jewellery at the Yahoo group "Miracle Jewellery"
As we live just a short distance from the now closed Exquisite Jewellery manufactures Sue has developed a
with information on the history of Exquisite Jewellery with the different pieces and sets available. This is an on going project and will be continually updated throughout the year. We know that currently research is being undertaken on Ciro Pearl jewellery. Sphinx jewellery is the only brand that is still quite a mystery. So if you have any knowledge of any of the above. Please contact us for the links.
