A Jewellers Guide To Caring For Your Gold Plated Jewellery
Gold. It does something to a soul. It's so pleasing to the eye and makes you feel a lot more special when you're wearing it. There's nothing like opening a gift box to see a piece of gold jewellery glinting out at you, all seductive and sophisticated (such a saucy minx, is gold). But, what to do if you have champagne taste and lemonade pockets? Gold plated jewellery to the rescue!!
Gold plated jewellery makes a great alternative to real gold jewellery. The cost of even 9ct gold can be quite prohibitive these days but nobody should deny their gold lust! Never! Gold plated jewellery looks just as beautiful as the real thing....well, it is kind of the real thing. With plated jewellery, a layer of real gold is applied to another metal so it has the same appearance. In the case of my jewellery, I use 24k gold to plate on sterling silver. Due to the fact that this jewellery has a layer of gold on it, different care is needed than with sterling silver or real gold pieces. And, be aware that, in time, the plating can wear off, especially if not taken care of properly.
I've seen sooooo much terrible advice online about how to clean and care for gold plated jewellery so I'd like to right that wrong! See my tips below for the best way to make your gold plated jewellery last as long as possible.
Remove all gold plated jewellery when doing pretty much anything that involves heat or moisture...so...bathing, swimming, exercise....and anything else you can think of where the jewellery may get wet.
After bathing/showering, wait until you're dry before putting on your gold plated jewels and apply all lotions and perfumes on before putting the jewellery on. Different chemicals in lotions and perfumes can seriously tarnish jewellery. It's best to avoid tarnish with gold plated items as they aren't as easy to clean as silver and gold pieces.
Store gold plated jewellery in the box it came in. Don't chuck it in your jewellery box with everything else as the friction of rubbing up against other metals can wear away at the layer of gold. And leaving it lying around increases the risk of tarnishing.
Don't sleep in your gold plated jewellery for the same friction-y reasons!
DON'T use any abrasives to clean your gold plated jewellery! So ignore all of the advice online to use baking soda or a toothbrush to clean your gold plated items! Anything abrasive will remove the layer of gold. This includes a lot of polishes used on real silver and gold as polishing metals usually involves slightly removing a layer of metal as you buff.
My jewellers secret trick for polishing up gold plated jewellery is to spray some window cleaner onto a piece of kitchen towel and gently rub it over your metal. Bada bing! Hello bling!
I plate all of my jewellery in a layer of palladium before gold-plating as palladium tarnishes much much slower than other metals and this under-layer slows decreases the tarnishing risk.
Lastly, if your plating has worn off your jewellery, which can happen eventually, you can always have it replated. It's not an expensive thing to have done and is a service I offer for smaller pieces of jewellery. Please contact me for further details and prices contact
