How to Care for Tarnished Silver Plated Jewelry Findings

Nunn Design jewelry findings are plated with three different precious metals; copper, 24k gold and .999 silver. With time, all precious metals, with the exception of platinum, will eventually tarnish.

The best way to prevent tarnishing is to properly care for their jewelry. But what happens to jewelry that you have on consignment in a store for a long period of time? How do you keep your jewelry looking fresh show after show?

The pieces that I found in my own samples that tarnished the most, were finished jewelry samples plated with .999 silver that incorporated Deerskin Lace, leather cord or leather bracelet cuffs. The chemicals and moisture of the leather tarnished the .999 silver like crazy!

In a previous blog post, 5 Ways to Clean Tarnished Copper Jewelry Findings, I dove deep into exploring ways to clean copper plated jewelry. Although I tried all of those same techniques on the .999 silver plated Nunn Design Findings, there was only two techniques that I found really removed tarnish from the pieces.

Let’s explore two techniques that I felt really worked.

Test 1: Lemon Juice and Salt

Ingredients:
1 tablespoon of lemon juice
1 tablespoon of salt
Fresh water

Other items:
Glass mixing bowl
Lint free towels

Directions: In a glass mixing bowl, mix the lemon juice and salt to form a paste. Rub the paste onto the tarnished metal surface with a lint free towel. Rinse the paste of with clean water and dry with a fresh lint free towel.

Result: I think this technique worked great! It was inexpensive to do and I felt the results were good.

Test 2. Weiman Silver Wipes

We actually tested several other brands that I’m not going to mention here. I liked Weiman’s the best because of the thickness of the sheets, the amount of pieces I could clean with a wipe and the price point.

Ingredients:
Weiman Silver Wipes
Warm water

Other items:
Lint free towel

Directions: Remove the metal jewelry findings from the leather. Lightly rub the plated tarnished jewelry with a Weiman Silver Wipes. Rinse thoroughly with warm water and pat dry with a lint free towel.

Immediate results: The tarnish on these samples were extreme. I think the Weiman Silver Wipes really did a fantastic job! It was easy to see immediate results without rubbing rigorously. I feel confident that I could remove tarnish many times with Weiman Silver Wipes without any risk to the .999 silver plating.

If you haven’t already seen these three blog posts, you might find them helpful:

• How to Care for Tarnished Copper
• Jewelry Care Cards and Biodegradable Jewelry Bags!
• 8 Tips on How to Care for Your Plated Jewelry

Full disclosure: I am not in any way paid for endorsing this Weiman Silver Wipes. This research is based off of my own experimenting to provide you, our valued customers, with this much needed information. As I discover other options, which I am sure I will, I’ll keep you posted!

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