Taking Care of Silver Jewelry

So you bought yourself a nice piece of silver jewelry. Your next interest is how can you keep your jewelry looking like new? One of the easiest ways to keep real sterling silver clean is to wear it into the bath or shower with you. Just the moving water over it will remove dust and other particles that would have eventually caused tarnish or discoloration. You may want to use some soap but be very careful. Some soaps might be too strong and discolor the silver. Scrub lightly with an object like a toothbrush but not too hard because you may make the silver flake if the jewelry is silver plated or silver coated. Silver (like gold and platinum) has a low Mohs rating of between 2 and 3.5. (Scale of 1 - 10, ten being toughest, 1 being weakest). This means it can be scratched very easily. Be careful when wearing with diamonds because diamonds have a 10 Mohs rating.