How to Clean Jewelry (silver, gold, and gemstones)

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Ok, today I’m going to show you how to clean all different kinds of jewelry at home safely. We’ll cover diamonds, emeralds, pearls, gold, and silver. This is a relatively easy and simple procedure and you won’t need anything beyond some cloths, cleaning solutions such as ammonia and dish soap, a toothbrush, and something to clean them in. Do keep in mind that if you really want to have the best cleaning possible done, and you’re willing to pay for it, you can take your jewelry to a jeweler with ultrasonic cleaning equipment (this cannot be done with emeralds). First, a few tips, then I’ll show you what to do:

  • Shake any dust out that might be on the cloth you’re about to use–any dust, dirt, or other particles can very easily damage gemstones. Use a cloth specifically for cleaning jewelry if at all possible, although a plain cotton cloth will also do.
  • If you’ve got gemstones that are embedded in gold or silver, then follow the cleaning instructions for the gemstones, NOT the metal they’re embedded in. This is because gemstones are much more sensitive and can be damaged by certain chemicals that would normally be used on precious metals without trouble.
  • Check any gemstones that are embedded to make sure that they are securely fastened and not loose in any way–they can become loose over time, and if you clean them in this state you can worsen the damage or even knock out a gemstone and lose it (I can’t imagine you’re going to be very pleased if you end up knocking a 3 carat diamond out of grandma’s wedding ring and end up losing it down the drain or something).

Here’s what to do

Here’s an additional video specifically about how to clean silver jewelry (keep in mind this is silver ONLY jewelry–it presumes there are no embedded gemstones):

Additional Resources and Further Reading

If you’d like to get some proper professional gem and jewelry cleaner like this, you can get it there from Amazon. Also surprisingly cheap and garnering excellent reviews, is a Cody professional ultrasonic jewelry and eyeglass cleaning machine like what professional jewelers use (if you’ve got a lot of jewelry to clean, or will need to do so on a regular basis, you really should grab one of these since it eliminates any concerns about which chemicals you can and can’t use because they could damage your jewels).

For additional details on cleaning jewelry and what and what not to do, check out this article by LuShae Jewelery.