How to Clean Gold Filled Jewelry

The outer layer of gold is soft and prone to scratching and tarnish.

Gold filled jewelry is made by fusing a layer of gold on a base metal -- often silver or brass -- or an alloy to create a permanent bond. Gold filled jewelry must be at least 5 percent gold by weight and is second in quality to solid gold. Caring for your gold filled jewelry is easy; for best results, clean each piece after wearing it, and store pieces so that they do not contact one another in a drawer or jewelry box to avoid scratches.

Difficulty:

Easy

Instructions

Things You'll Need

• Soft cloth
• Non-bleach powdered laundry detergent
• Dishwashing liquid
• Ammonia

1. Wipe your jewelry with a clean, soft cloth after wearing it. Polishing cloths designed especially for jewelry are nonabrasive and inexpensive.

2. Fill a small bowl with water and a drop of ammonia and dip a cloth or cotton swab in the liquid. Carefully clean hard-to-reach spots of the jewelry, then rinse with water and pat the piece dry.

3. Add a teaspoon of non-bleach powdered laundry detergent to a bowl of warm water and stir. Soak especially dirty pieces of gold filled jewelry for a minute or so, remove the jewelry and rise with water and pat dry..

Tips & Warnings

• If your gold filled jewelry has gemstones or other settings, make sure any cleaning solution you're using won't harm the stones.

References

• St. Patrick's Guild: Jewelry Care
• Robyn A. Harton: Caring for Jewelry
• Wire Creatons: Gold Filled Jewelry