How to Protect a Sterling Silver Plated Chain

Whether sterling silver or just silver-plated, silver jewelry needs protection from tarnish.

Silver jewelry makes an inexpensive alternative to gold, white gold or platinum jewelry, but it is notoriously quick to tarnish, developing a black patina from oxidization and exposure to air. A little tarnish over time is natural and easily removable, but both silver and silver-plated jewelry needs regular care and attention to look their best. Silver-plated chains can be protected from tarnish with the same methods used for silver jewelry, but they require gentler polishing.

Things You'll Need

• Dip silver cleaner
• Soft polishing cloth

Instructions

1. Dip the chain into the dip cleaner. Do not leave the chain in too long, or the silver plating may be damaged. Use only the shortest exposure time necessary to the chemicals in the cleaner for silver-plated jewelry, because the dip may remove small amounts of silver in the plating.

2. Rinse chain under warm running water. Remove any trace of cleaner.

3. Polish with cloth. Use a lengthwise motion, not a circular motion, which could cause scratches. Do not overpolish. Silver-plated jewelry should be polished gently and just enough to clean and remove tarnish from the surface. Overpolishing will remove some of the silver plating from the surface.

Tips & Warnings

• To extend the life of your silver-plated jewelry, limit its exposure to tarnish, particularly since removing tarnish from the surface of silver-plated jewelry will also remove trace amounts of silver from the plating, wearing it down over time.

• Store in air-tight, resealable plastic bags with anti-tarnish paper, anti-tarnish cloth jewelry bags, and store in a low-humidity area.

References

• Southwest Affinity: Cleaning Your Sterling Silver Jewelry

Resources

• Read this Article in Spanish