Going for Gold: Caring for Personalized Gold Jewelry

Today, personalized jewelry has become a trend that is popular with the young and old alike. It is able to give the wearer or the receiver a personal and unique touch to what he or she will be wearing. Among the available types, personalized gold jewelry is one of the most common and favored.

Now, if you own a piece of personalized gold jewelry, you would need to make sure that you know just how to ensure its beautiful and pristine appearance. Here are a couple of tips.

A popular jewelry metal, gold in its pure form is actually very soft. It is hardened during manufacturing by adding different metals. The purity of gold is often measured by Karats; the higher its Karat value, the purer it is. Softness is golds major flaw, but its strengths are its resistance to tarnish and corrosion, making them ideal for everyday wear. However, gold must be taken care of properly in order to avoid dents and scratches on the piece.

Gold should only be purchased from honest, trusted retailers. Scammers have taken advantage of the popularity of gold by getting just about any metal, plating it, and selling it with an inflated Karat value.

Jewelers would recommend not letting gold come in contact with hard substances such as diamonds or other precious stones because these can scratch the surface of the gold piece. Some gold enthusiasts would even recommend storing gold jewelry individually and in separate containers so that they wont do any damage to one another when accidentally moved or shaken.

One of the most common chemicals that can prove damaging to gold is chlorine. Gold should not be worn while cleaning anything with chlorine or while swimming in pools or Jacuzzis that contain high concentrations of this chemical. Chlorine has proven to weaken golds structure, thus making it prone to breaking or cracking.

Oils, lotions, and perfumes can cause the luster of gold to fade. Gold enthusiasts advise that gold wearers should put on very little lotion or perfume on areas where gold jewelry will be worn. If you cant avoid putting on perfume or lotion, at least let them dry first before putting on your gold jewelry. Oil and grease marks often make gold less beautiful than it really is, but this problem can easily be solved by cleaning the gold piece with a few drops of rubbing alcohol. In no time, the original luster will return.

During gold shopping, take note of the Karat value of the gold piece youre eyeing. Pure gold has a Karat count of 24. As this number goes down, the gold becomes less because it has been mixed with more alloys. The lowest acceptable gold Karat count is 10K. Those who have lower values are not considered gold by most countries due to the high concentrations of other metals it already has. Carat and Karat is different, so dont be fooled. Carat is typically used in considering the weight of gemstones, particularly diamonds, while Karat is used specifically for gold.

The market sells a lot of gold jewelry, including gold-filled pieces and gold-plated ones. Manufacturers of gold-filled jewelry will typically include an indicator that shows the customer how much weight is due to gold, and how much is due to other metals mixed with it. Gold-plated items are relatively popular, but they are only covered by a thin coating of gold, thus it might easily lose color as time passes.

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