Looking after silver and gold vermeil jewellery.
Gold vermeil is the term to describe hard or micron plating on silver. For all our jewellery the base metal is either silver or gold. We micron-plate more than half of our silver jewellery. Gold vermeil should not be confused with flash plating or gold plating. Gold vermeil jewellery, if we look after it correctly, should retain its coat of gold for years to come. The length of time will depend to a large extent how often it is worn.
The first thing to remember about gold vermeil jewellery is that the base is silver, and silver can and will tarnish. To minimise tarnishing, always keep your jewellery in a soft pouch or jewellery box when not worn. Heat, humidity and air all help to speed the tarnishing process up! If you silver or gold vermeil jewellery does tarnish use a mild silver cleaning fluid. I like the Goddards Silver Dip. Do follow the instructions that come with this product. A word of warning, don’t leave your jewellery in the dip overnight; for normal everyday tarnishing a couple of minutes should be long enough. Remove from the dip, run under cold water to remove the solution from the jewellery, and then pat dry gently with a piece of kitchen paper.
With silver jewellery that doesn’t have gold vermeil, you can of course use a soft silver cloth to buff the silver up and remove mild tarnishing.
How to preserve the gold vermeil for as long as possible.
There are certain no-no’s for treating gold vermeil jewellery.
Never swim wearing gold vermeil, the chlorine and sea water will strip the gold.
Try to remember to remove gold vermeil rings before washing your hands, gold vermeil doesn’t like soap.
The stronger the soap, detergent (this includes shampoo) the more likely you are to disturb the layer of gold.
Perfume and hand/body cream can also damage the surface.
If you have a favourite gold vermeil ring or necklace and wear it everyday, then you should expect to have it re micron plated every 2 to 3 years. Your first port of call could be the shop or website you bought the item from, they should be happy to refer you to their gold-platers. I have tried a couple of companies here in the UK for plating and now use F. Sinclair Ltd in Hatton Garden, they are not the cheapest, but to my mind they are the best.
I hope this has answered some of your questions about looking after your silver and gold vermeil jewellery.
We are always happening to answer any questions you may have. Sushilla X
