Silver is a soft metal compared to gold alloys. The downside of being soft is that your silver ring will get pushed out of shape whereas this rarely will happen with a gold ring. It also scratches very, very easily.

The other disadvantage of silver is that it tarnishes easily. Lets look at these two problems one at a time.

Scratches.

1. Take care of your silver jewellery by taking it off when you are going to do anything where it is going to rub against virtually anything. So take it off when you do the gardening, washing the dishes etc.

2. Dont wear it alongside another ring as it will rub and scratch.

3. Store your silver jewellery items individually in small boxes with soft material around them.

4. If your item gets light scratches you can polish the item as best you can but you are not likely to remove these but a good polish will disguise them. Heavy scratches will require a jeweller to sand them out and repolish your item. He wont charge the earth for that so get it done.

Tarnish.

Tarnish is produced by so many sources that you would have to avoid nearly everything in life to prevent it totally. Certain foods, salts such as body salts, oils, materials such as rubber, wool and felt will tarnish silver but so will the air we live in.

So what do we do about it? Just be sensible and avoid allowing hairsprays, foods and chemicals from coming in contact with it. The best prevention is early cleaning and proper storage. I have found that storage in a plastic airtight bad will keep silver very well and tarnish free.

Wash your silver jewellery with a very mild detergent and rub in smooth up and down lines after drying it with a soft cloth. Buy a silver polishing cloth from a jewellery shop. For a few dollars you will have the polishing cloth that is used by the experts. Forget about toothbrushes and all the rest of it if you wash it occasionally and polish with the proper cloth. If you have let it go and not cleaned it for a good while then you might need to use a soft brush and a stronger detergent and warm water, but remember these are clearing away the grime but they are abrasive too.

You can buy tarnish absorbing strips and cloths to place in the jewellery box and these work quite well.

Today a lot of jewellery is being made with a tarnish- resistant silver and this will overcome the tarnish problem almost entirely. Some jewellery is rhodium plated and this is also tarnish resistant. The less you pay the less chance that the item will be tarnish resistant.

You can use electrochemical methods which you will see in flea markets, and you can use pastes and solutions which you can buy from a hardware store and other silver polishes but just remember that there is a small downside to all of these. Over time pitting might develop, scratches might occur from polishing and pastes might build up in hard to get to places. So use all of these sparingly.

Appreciate that your silver jewellery is soft and will, without doubt, scratch and become a little dull. Care for it by proper washing, sensible wearing and proper storage. Take it to your jeweller for a buffing and polish occasionally to keep it at its peak. Jewellery is for wearing so enjoy it by wearing it.