Jewellery

Your jewellery is precious; it is special and deserves the best care to ensure lasting pleasure.

Always remove items of jewellery and rings prior to carrying out heavy or strenuous work such as gardening, decorating or any arduous activity which carries the real risk of damage.

For instance the claws on a ring may only be less than one millimetre in size and if subjected to the pressure and weight the human frame is capable of, can easily be damaged. Safety chains are often caught and broken, rings may be scratched and marked in normal use, the list is endless.

On a positive note we will be delighted to inspect and advise you on the condition of your jewellery at any time if you think you may have damaged it, and we have at your disposal a fully equipped workshop with experienced goldsmiths who are qualified to carry out repairs should the unforeseen happen.

With the proliferation of different stones now available it is important that you are aware of their characteristics. For example, stones such as Pearls, Opals, Emeralds and Tanzanite must never be cleaned in an ultrasonic cleaner. If you are in any doubt it is better to have your jewellery and rings professionally cleaned and polished. All rings and jewellery purchased from Drakes Fine Jewellers will be cleaned and polished at any time for you FREE for LIFE.

Remember, treat your jewellery as you would your best clothes and you will never regret it.

• Do wear and enjoy your jewellery responsibly
• Do have your jewellery professionally checked annually
• Do keep your jewellery clean

Do not wear your rings whilst washing up (Diamonds for instance will attract grease and look dull). Do not jumble your jewellery and rings all together. Bangles can be dented, rings and stones scratched and chains becoming knotted together etc.

Take care when wearing jewellery on the beach, sand is quartz, a mineral hard enough to scratch gold, silver and even platinum.

With the increasing popularity of white metal in jewellery,  more instances of discolouration are being experienced. Gold does not occur naturally in white only in yellow, and various techniques are used to alloy the gold with other metals such as silver and palladium, which has the effect of “bleaching” the gold to a near white colour. Most items then receive a coating of Rhodium to impart a very white bright finish.  It is when this coating is worn off that the underlying colour may show through.

Many of the white gold alloys used since 1920 had nickel as the primary bleaching agent and although this produced a very white metal that did not require rhodium coating, it unfortunately caused a severe allergic reaction.  It was subsequently banned for jewellery use in Europe from the year 2000.

At this time it is still in use in America where its allergy problems are  beginning to be felt and no doubt the law will be changed in due course..

Thankfully there is a new metal now available, which has none of the problems of white gold… welcome to Palladium! This naturally occurring very white metal is part of the Platinum family of metals and can be worked in exactly the same way as gold.

With a price point just slightly above 9ct gold it is also very cost effective and considerable sales in wedding rings bear out in practice all of it’s obvious benefits.  Please contact us for information on this exciting new metal.