How to Clean Silver & Copper Jewelry

Silver and copper jewelry share the same glowing allure. Both metals are soft enough to permit intricate detail and sheen, but they also share the tendency to oxidize, or tarnish, in interaction with the air. Periodic cleaning will restore the beauty of your silver or copper jewelry. Use commercial polishes commercially or an old method used on delicate antiques. Choosing the right materials and applying a gentle touch will make your jewelry pieces look their best with only a little effort.

Things You'll Need

• Commercial silver/copper polish
• Soft rags
• Old soft toothbrush or wooden toothpicks
• Paper to protect your work surface
• Soap and liquid dish soap
• Ketchup

Instructions

Polishing Your Jewelry

1. Wash jewelry in soap and water before polishing. While darkening may have been caused exclusively by oxidation, sometimes plain old dirt plays a part as well. Because you want to polish as little as possible, for reasons given below, make sure you have removed everything that doesn't need chemical treatment.

2. Apply a small amount of polish, roughly the size of a fingerprint, to a rag. Rub gently all over the surface of the jewelry and allow it to dry. Using a clean rag, rub away dried polish gently. You may be done; if so, wash, dry and wear.

3. Address streaking or other problems with an additional coat of polish and attention to troublesome detail. Heavy oxidation streaking on flat surfaces can be diminished by gentle rubbing with your old toothbrush. Be prepared to apply this strategy more than once; hard scrubbing, even with a soft brush, can scratch surfaces or bend soft metal.

Handling Special Problems

1. Use your brush, wooden toothpicks and visual sense to handle heavily incised pieces. For example, you are cleaning a brooch that features a detailed basket of flowers--so detailed that you can see the basket-weave and individual flower-petals. And, after surface polishing, those details are still heavily black. Gently use your brush or toothpicks to work a little polish into the incised areas, and use the clean brush or more toothpicks to remove the oxidation after the polish dries. Remember, though, that part of the appeal of your piece is the visual relief and detail. Rubbing to remove every speck of darkening will diminish that. Easy does it, until you have the look you want.

2. Remember the fragility of old pieces. Restoration is complicated by physical fragility and the possibility that the coat of silver or copper applied over a base metal may have thinned with age. Diminish the danger of harm by substituting ketchup for commercial polish. The chemical reaction you need to create to remove oxidation is similar, and ketchup is non-abrasive. Yes, it will smell truly strange while you're working, but this old antique dealer's trick polishes your treasure in the gentlest way possible.

3. Don't forget the back side of your piece of jewelry. This seems like obvious advice when polishing dangling earrings or a pendant, but it applies equally to bracelets and pins. Oxidation creeps like moss--your polishing job will last longer if you remove it from the back of the piece, too. Remember also that your skin is a source of oxidation. Any piece of jewelry worn touching the skin needs to be protected both from the air and the wearer.

Tips & Warnings

• Read polish labels carefully, especially with copper polishes. Some copper polishes are designed to take the stove-gunk off your pots and pans and they, along with any generally labeled "metal" polishes, are too abrasive for fine jewelry. When in doubt, you can use silver polish on copper--or hit the ketchup aisle. Better safe than scratched.