Happy Stories From our customers

We’re often asked what is the best way to clean jewelry. Unfortunately, there’s no one answer. It depends on the metal and the stone, the piece of jewelry as a whole, and the setting. But here are some basic pointers to abide by to add some shine to your pieces, thanks to Home Made Simple.

What to Use: For cleaning most jewelry, a soft bristled toothbrush and warm water is the perfect pair. Toothbrushes help you gently clean the surface of your jewelry, while also getting into nooks and crannies of a setting. Warm water helps break down the dirt faster. Jewelry Cleaning Tips:

• Gold: Soak gold for about 15 minutes in a simple solution of warm water and two drops of mild dish liquid. Gently clean using the toothbrush, rinse with warm water and dry with a soft, lint-free cloth.
• Silver: Rinse silver with warm water and clean with a soft cloth. If the silver is tarnished use silver polishing cloths or bottled silver cleaning fluid.
• Diamonds: Soak diamond jewelry in a solution of one-cup warm water and 1/4 cup ammonia for 20 minutes or use the same solution you would for gold. Gently clean with a toothbrush, rinse with warm water and pat with a lint-free cloth.
• Gem Stones: You can use the same solution used for diamonds for most precious gems except for soft, specially treated stones like emeralds or opals. For these stones, use a small amount of warm water and a soft, clean tissue or piece of silk to clean.
• Pearls: Rub pearls individually with a soft cloth dampened with warm water and a few drops of mild dish liquid.
• Costume Jewelry: Simply wipe costume jewelry down gently with soft, damp cotton cloth as needed. Don’t over clean, as you may damage the finish.

Tip: To keep inexpensive costume jewelry from tarnishing and rubbing off on your skin, brush clear nail polish on the backs of each piece and let dry before wearing.

Gold prices continue to soar, but that’s of no concern to the rich and famous who continue to glitter their way through Tinseltown. Here’s some recent gold showings:

Actress Sandra Bullock (below), with Ryan Reynolds, wore an Adeler 18-karat gold handmade chain link bracelet ($9,880) to the Los Angeles premiere of Reynolds’ newest movie The Change-Up.

Australian actress Yvonne Strahovski sported a Le Vian 14-karat rose gold smoky quartz ring (below) to a San Diego event. The ring retails for $1,047.

Glee star Jenna Ushkowitz (below) accessorized with Amrapali’s 14-karat gold art deco diamond earrings ($9,400) to a celebration in San Diego.

Actress Jennifer Morrison (below) wore Carrera y Carrera’s 18-karat yellow gold hoop earrings ($3,395) to Comic-Con last month.

Also choosing Carrera y Carrera was Leslie Bibb (below), who donned the brand’s 18-karat white gold diamond studs ($14,650) for an event in Los Angeles.

This 14-karat yellow gold and diamond finger bracelet, shown below on singer Kelly Rowland (below), is by Elodie K. and retails for $595.

Actress Leslie Mann accessorized with Neil Lane’s platinum, gold and diamond ring (below), valued at $29,000, to a premiere of the new movie The Change-Up.

Check out more at 10x!

Thank you, Beth!!!!
Just go back from my honeymoon. Everything was great. The best part (beside having a great new husband) is my beautiful ring! I look at it all time, and we both love it.
Thanks for everything!
K

Here’s a little video that gives you some ideas as to what is hot this fall and when you should splurge or simply save:

View more videos at: http://www.nbcnewyork.com.

It’s here. Well, it’s almost here. Fall, that is. This year, the colors for fashion and jewelry are a blend of “sensible and spirited.” Here’s more:

The season will contrast brighter-than-usual warm colors against versatile neutrals.

Here are the 10 Pantone colors for Fall 2011:

Fashion Color Trends Fall 2011 – from Pantone

Top row, left to right: Phlox (a deep purple), Orchid Hush (gray with orchid undertones), Deep Teal (a watery blueish green), Quarry (a cool medium gray), and Cedar (a midtone neutral green).

Bottom row, left to right: Nougat (a warm tan), Emberglow (bright warm orange), Bamboo (warm yellow with greenish undertone), Coffee Liqueur (rich creamy brown), and Honeysuckle (Pantone’s “color of the year” for 2011).

If you’re designing jewelry, here are two great ways to use this seasonal color information:

1) You may want to use the Fall fashion colors for 2011 in your jewelry designs.

2) Or you may prefer to use colors that will contrast / coordinate with this palette – since many of our customers’ new outfits will likely have these Pantone colors in them.

Source: Jewelry Business Blog

Even people not in the know, when it comes to the stock market, have heard how the price of gold continues to soar.

The price of gold per ounce hit a record $1,830 on Thursday, marking a steady climb in the months-long rapid escalation of the price of the metal. Jewelers across the country are reporting a noticeable increase in the amount of people coming in to sell their gold jewelry, which some are reluctant to refine.

“It’s turned into a feeding frenzy,” David Rotenberg, owner of David Craig Jewelers in Langhorne, Penn., said of buying gold. “It’s all we’re doing. People are lining up in the store.”

The economy’s hiccup earlier in August contributed to the increased number of consumers selling gold, Rotenberg said, and also to the types of gold jewelry they’re bringing in.

“They’re obviously digging deeper,” he said, “We went through a period, around 2008, where everything we were buying was scrap metal. Around 2010, people started coming in with nicer pieces of jewelry.”

Now he’s seeing scrap metal again, which leads him to believe that consumers are finding gold to sell that they haven’t considered before, including mementos.

Source: National Jeweler

So if you’ve been waiting to clean out that old jewelry box of yours, get to it sooner rather than later. The time is most definitely golden. Check out our page on how its done by a reputable jeweler such as ourselves.