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Care Of Your JewellerySome people may find that particular items occasionally discolour (oxidise) where they come into contact with their skin. There can be lots of reasons for this but the main is due to the natural acids in one's skin reacting to the additional metals in sterling silver. Silver also reacts with chemicals in the air and can tarnish during storage. Sterling silver is the combination of 92.5% pure silver and 7.5% other alloys. Pure Silver is much too soft to use to make jewellery so a small amount of other metal is mixed with it to make it stronger and longer lasting. This is usually copper.

How do you stop it oxidizing? Usually continued wearing minimises oxidisation and it will eventually wear off. In the meantime you can polish it with a soft silver polish cloth. The way you store and wear your jewellery can also help. Items should be stored in a clean and dry place and care should be taken not to expose jewellery to perfumes, toiletries or household cleaning products in storage or whilst being worn.

Stone set jewellery is usually set with jewellers cement and can be weakened by poor care and storage. Never submerge your jewellery in water (i.e. bathing or washing pots) or expose it to the aforementioned chemicals. Keep away from strong sunlight as some fragile stones could dry out and crack or fade.