Sterling silver jewelry does not require much care, but here are a few things you should keep in mind :

Silver is a relatively soft metal so it is not difficult to scratch. If you plan to do any work that will put your jewelry in contact with hard, sharp objects (such as gardening) you may wish to remove any rings you are wearing.

The beach is a terrible place for jewelry of almost any kind; between scratches from the sand and the tendency for jewelry to fall off in the water you are best off just leaving it home. There’s a reason you see those people at the beach with metal detectors and its not just lost change.

Chlorine is a very bad for all jewelry and gemstones. It will tarnish nearly any precious metal and with repeated exposure will actually weaken white gold increasing the possibility of losing a stone from a setting. Chlorine will turn your silver grayish and then blue-black. Be careful when adding bleach to the laundry and always remove your jewelry before swimming or using a hot tub.

If your silver jewelry does become tarnished you can use liquid tarnish remover as long as there are no gemstones in the piece and there is no intentional blackening on the piece to enhance an embossed or incised design. If this is the case, then use a jewelry polishing cloth. These cloths are widely available from jewelers and do a wonderful job restoring the luster to tarnished pieces. Wearing your jewelry regularly will also help to prevent the build up of tarnish.

You should store your silver pieces individually in small plastic or cloth bags to prevent you pieces from scratching one another.

Silver is easily bent (particularly ear wires). The important thing to remember about bending silver is that it becomes harder and more brittle each time it is bent. If it is bent too far too many times it will break. If a piece becomes slightly bent you can usually bend it back into place slowly using no more pressure than is necessary to correct the bend. If a piece becomes badly bent and the piece is of particular value to you, you should take it to a jeweler who will heat the piece then plunge it red hot into cold water to soften the silver before correcting the bend. Then the piece must be reheated and slowly allowed to cool at room temperature. Then it is dipped in a warm acid solution to remove the black fire scale caused by the heating and then finally polished again.

We’ve included this information to give you an idea of what can damage silver jewelry and what to do if something is damaged. Mostly, silver jewelry is just meant to be worn and enjoyed.