Care for Your Vintage & Antique Jewelry

Care for Your Vintage & Antique Jewelry

Once you’ve purchased your vintage and antique jewelry pieces, you’ll want to preserve their beauty and value. A few simple steps can help you maintain your vintage costume jewelry.

• Wear vintage jewelry with care: Vintage jewelry is difficult to repair, so wear it with care. Remove your jewelry when using household cleaners and when doing physical activities.
• Store vintage jewelry separately: Store jewelry separately in soft, zipped-up pouches to protect your pieces from the elements and from dust, which is abrasive.
• Use a jewelry polishing cloth: Keep it simple. Use a special jewelry polishing cloth to keep jewelry dust-free.
• Remove grime from vintage jewelry: Use a baby wipe or glass cleaner and a soft cloth to remove grime from stones.
• Keep vintage jewelry dry: Never place vintage jewelry and antique jewelry directly under running water.

Cameos, shell cameos in particular, can discolor and crack from drying and aging, and require special care. You can do your part to keep them clean and moisturized.

• Store your cameos: Store cameos in a clean, dry place.
• Clean your cameos: Completely cleanse your cameos once or twice a year. Clean cameos gently with a soft-bristle toothbrush in a mild soap-and-water solution. Rinse the cameo thoroughly with warm water immediately after cleaning. Never soak shell cameos or “soft” stones in any cleaning solution for more than 30 seconds.
• Prevent cameos from drying: Moisturize the cameo with mineral oil or baby oil. Apply the oil with your finger, a cotton swab, or a soft cloth. Let the cameo soak overnight.