How to keep your silver jewelry clean

Most jewelry can easily be cleaned using solvents and or polishing. Sterling silver jewelry is no different. Ask any jewelry shop and they can provide you with cleaning cloths and or polishing materials. A good jewelry shop will do this for you for free, providing you bought it from them.

Home remedies for cleaning silver jewelry

There are two home remedies that have been proven to clean jewelry better than just washing and wiping. Listed below are both methods.

• Salt water in an aluminum pan (must be aluminum or this won’t work)
• Vinegar

Salt water in aluminum

Fill the pan with salt water and set jewelry inside, the tarnish magically moves over to the pan. You will want to use an old pan because this wrecks the pan. Keep the pan handy though so you can reuse it many times.

Vinegar

This method isn’t recommended by some, but does work. Use a regular cotton cloth and dip the cloth in the vinegar. Press hard and wipe your jewelry clean and that’s all there is to it. Results will vary depending on what kind of cloth that you use.

History of sterling silver

Sterling silver has a long and much debated history. Taking a trip back in time to the 1800s, in United Stats and in Europe sterling silver became popular for household utensils because of its fine clean polished look. Manufacturers of the time started popping up all over to get in on the piece of the action.

Back then, only the rich people could afford such things and having silver at your table was known to have been a symbol of wealth. Over time, this silver became the standard for metal for use in things like forks, spoons, butter knives and the like. The price came down and the rest is history.

The silver itself

The general rule when it comes to silver is that the level of purity of silver directly related to the amount of corrosion and tarnishing that will occur over time. The reason is because pure silver doesn’t react with oxygen at standard room temperature very well. This allows for just a small fraction of silver oxide to form which is what causes the tarnishing effect.

Sterling silver 925

Good silver of today is codenamed sterling silver 925, but what does this honestly mean to us? The answer is really simple. The number 925 actually means 92.5 percent (92.5%). This is how much pure silver is confirmed to be included in the silver that was used to make your silver jewelry or silverware.

The remaining 7.5 percent (7.5%) is actually other metals, most commonly just plain copper metal. 100 percent silver is soft and too bendable to actually be useful for making jewelry and utensils.