Your Summertime Jewelry Care List

I Know I’d be Wearing Jewelry, With the Wind in My Hair

Summer’s Coming and Danger May Lurk for Your Favorite Ring

As your Santa Barbara Jeweler, who does your jewelry repairs, you know I’ll never give you a hard time for playing rough with your jewelry. I want you to wear it and love it.

My motto is “Wear it, Don’t Warehouse it!” But it never hurts to know where danger can lurk for your beloved jewelry playthings.

My Mentor Makes a List

Jeweler and Author Antionette Matlins, whom I’m a student of and a big fan of, came up with this list of things to beware of on behalf of your jewelry and I share it with you here:

Five Tips for Protecting Your Jewelry This Summer

1. Beware of chlorinated swimming pools.Chlorine can damage or destroy many types of fine jewelry. It can dissolve the surface of beautiful beads; attack the alloy in precious metals; remove the polish from many stones, such as malachite or turquoise.

2. Don’t wear rings in cold water.The cold temperature of the water in pools, oceans, lakes and rivers causes your finger size to shrink temporarily. When this happens, rings become too large and, aided by the movement of your hands as you swim or play, can easily slip off the finger without your being aware of it.

3. Check mounting to make sure stones are secure in their settings.Active sports are very popular in the summer. If a stone is loose in the setting, it may fall out during sports activities and break or become chipped or cracked.

4. Don’t wear your fine jewelry while gardening.Many fine gemstones have been lost or badly damaged while the wearer was gardening. Gold and platinum settings can be badly scratched or gouged by rocks and tools. Even a diamond can chip or crack when hit on a rock or tool because although it is very hard, it is also brittle and thin edges and points at the corners of a stone are vulnerable (for example, a princess-cut comes to a point at each of its four corners).

5. Is your watch waterproof or water resistant?Many expensive watches are ruined when people do not understand the significant difference between “waterproof” and “water resistant.” Do you know the difference?

More From the Mind Of Antoinette

Many more tips can be found in Ms. Matlins’ books Diamonds: The Antoinette Matlins Buying Guide—How to Select, Buy, Care for & Enjoy Diamonds with Confidence and Knowledge and Colored Gemstones: The Antoinette Matlins Buying Guide—How to Select, Buy, Care for & Enjoy Sapphires, Emeralds, Rubies and Other Colored Gems with Confidence and Knowledge.