Gemstone Care - Gemstone Information

Separate gemstones and jewellery pieces, by storing in sectioned boxes or wrap gemstones in paper. Otherwise damage may occur when harder stones contact softer stones, or when any stone contacts gold and other precious metalwork.

Do not lift or hold a jewellery piece by the stone or pull at the stone, it may losen in it's mounting and may eventually fall out.

Be aware of the durability of the stone and the situations in which it can be worn (working environment). Durability is a combination of hardness, toughness and susceptibility to chemical erosion. All factors must be considered.

Remove rings before heavy work; otherwise the gemstone may loosen in the setting or be damaged.
Softer or brittle stones may suffer facet damage. When purchasing these stones, consider an emerald style cut; this cut was designed for better facet protection. The metalwork design may also provide extra protection for these gemstone types, especially when the stone is recessed.

Although diamonds are the hardest of all gems they possess perfect cleavage and may be chipped if struck against a hard surface.

Exposing gemstones from one extreme temperature to another, in a very short time, will cause 'Thermal Shock' in heat sensitive stones.

When wearing rings:

Avoid putting your hands in hot water or removing trays from the oven.
Do not put your hands over a hot vent when coming in from the cold (house heater or car vent etc).
In the above situations, sudden heat applied to an opal can quickly remove the water content and crack the stone.

Temperature Extremes

Some gemstones can tolerate extreme temperatures and are uneffected by the heat applied, during jewellery repairs.
It is advisable to positively identify a stone before any repair work is carried out. Mistaken identity may prove expensive.

Strong Heat & Light

The colour, or colour intensity, of some gemstones does not remain stable after heat-treatment or irradiation. The treatment may be affected by high temperatures, strong light or both. Some natural stones also fade under these conditions.

To avoid this happening, try not to wear jewellery at the beach, when in strong sunlight or when swimming.
If working under strong artificial light, shade the gemstone or remove the jewellery.

Insure your jewellery

Keep your policies up-to-date and be aware of increases in market value.
Records of your jewellery should include photographs, weights, measurements and purchase information.

Be aware of enhancements

It is important to know if a gemstone has been treated to enhance its appearance. If unsure, check out the treatments that are typically applied to the gemstone in question, and take the appropriate precautions for those enhancements. See 'Gemstone Treatments' below.

Alexandrite	Chrysoberyl	Excellent	Yes	Yes	Use a commercial jewellery cleaner or a mild soap and water solution and clean with a soft toothbrush. Alexandrite is a hard durable stone and remains stable in heat and sunlight, no special care is required.
Amethyst	Crystalline Quartz	Good	Yes	No	Use a commercial jewellery cleaner or a mild soap and water solution and clean with a soft toothbrush. Avoid exposure to sunlight and strong artificial light to prevent the colour from fading.
Ametrine	Crystalline Quartz	Good	Yes	No	Use a commercial jewellery cleaner or a mild soap and water solution and clean with a soft toothbrush. Avoid exposure to sunlight and strong artificial light to prevent the colour from fading.
Andalusitee	Andalusite	Good	Yes	No	Use a commercial jewellery cleaner or a mild soap and water solution and clean with a soft toothbrush. Andalusite is heat sensitive, avoid high temperatures to prevent fractures.
Aquamarine	Beryl	Fair	Yes	No	Use a commercial jewellery cleaner or a mild soap and water solution and clean with a soft toothbrush. Although heat-treated stones are normally stable and will not fade in sunlight, avoid prolonged exposure to intense sunlight and artificial light. Avoid sudden temperature change.
Chalcedony	Microcrystalline Quartz	Very good	No	No	Use a mild soap and water solution and dry quickly with an absorbant cloth. Some varieties of chalcedony may be dyed; chemicals may remove the colour.
Citrine	Crystalline Quartz	Good	Yes	No	Use a commercial jewellery cleaner or a mild soap and water solution and clean with a soft toothbrush.. Avoid exposure to strong light or prolonged sunlight to avoid colour change.
Diamond	Diamond	Good	Yes Unless coated	Yes Unless coated	All gemstone cleaning methods are ok for untreated diamonds that do not have large inclusions. High temperatures may remove material from Cavity Filled diamonds. When stones are coated to improve the colour, avoid chemicals, ultrasonics, steaming and boiling. Although diamond is the hardest natural material, it has perfect cleavage and may chip if it strikes against a hard surface. Protect jewellery from physical blows, especially rings.
Emerald	Beryl	Poor to good	No	No	To avoid sudden temperature change, use warm water only in a mild soap & water solution. Clean with a soft toothbrush. Avoid chemical cleaners, they may remove the oil from oiled stones, degrading the colour and making inclusions more visible. A professional is required to clean the stone effectively and re-apply the correct type of oil.
Garnet	Garnet Group	Fair to good	Yes	No	Use a commercial jewellery cleaner or a mild soap & water solution and clean with a soft toothbrush. Avoid cleaning products that contain hydrofluic acid. Avoid sudden temperature changes to prevent fractures, through thermal shock.
Heliodor	Beryl	Fair	Yes	Yes	Use a commercial jewelery cleaner or use 'warm water only' in mild soap & water solution, to avoid thermal shock. Avoid sunlight, treated stones can fade to their original paler colour.
Iolite	Cordierite	Fair	Yes	Yes	Use a commercial jewellery cleaner or a mild soap & water solution and clean with a soft toothbrush.. Acids can damage iolite, check cleaning products for the inclusion of acids and avoid.
Jadeite & Nephrite	Jade	Excellent	No	No	Use a damp cloth then a dry absorbant cloth to dry quickly. Jade is often dyed or filled, avoid the use of chemicals, soaking or steam cleaning. Jade is very tough, precautions are mainly to avoid a colour change.
Kunzite	Spodumene	Poor	No	No	Use 'warm water only' in a mild soap & water solution. Clean with a soft tooth brush. Protect from both heat and strong light to avoid the colour fading. Kunzite has perfect cleavage in two directions, so wear with care to avoid physical blows. Do not use hydrofluic acid products.
Lapis Lasuli	Lazurite	Fair	No	No	Clean with a damp lint free cloth. Lapis may be dyed or oiled and therefore may be affected by chemicals, soaking in solutions or steam cleaning., avoid all these methods.
Moonstone	Feldspar	Poor	Yes	No	Use a commercial jewellery cleaner or a mild soap and water solution and clean with a soft toothbrush.. Moonstone is a soft stone with perfect cleavage, wear with care to avoid physical blows.
Morganite	Beryl	Fair	Yes	No	Use a commercial jewellery cleaner or use 'warm water only' in a mild soap and water solution. Avoid sudden temperature change to avoid thermal shock.
Opal	Opal	Poor	No	No	Use a dry or damp cloth to clean. Do not soak in cleaning solutions. Opal is affected by thermal shock, avoid heat and sudden temperature change.
Pearl	Organic	poor	No	No	Use a damp cloth to remove the oils deposited from skin secretions, as they contain harmful acids. Avoid contact with deoderants, perfumes and sun lotions. Commercial pearl cleaning solutions are available. Wear pearls with care to avoid physical damage.
Peridot	Olivine	poor	No	No	Use a mild soap and water solution and clean with a soft toothbrush. Avoid harsh chemicals, peridot is susceptible to acids includung those from skin secretions, perfumes etc.
Rhodolite	Pyrope/Almandine Garnet	Good	Yes	No	Use a commercial jewelery cleaner or 'warm water only' in a mild soap and water solution. Also avoid sudden temperature changes to prevent thermal shock. Avoid cleaning products that containn hydrofluic acid.
Rubellite	Tourmaline (Red Tourmaline)	Good	Yes	No	Use a commercial jewellery cleaner or a mild soap and water solution and clean with a soft toothbrush.. Avoid prolonged exposure to sunlight or strong artificial light as irradiated stones may fade to their original paler colour: high temperatures may also change the colour. Avoid sudden temperature changes to prevent thermal shock.
Ruby	Corundum	Excellent	Yes	Yes	Use a commercial jewellery cleaner or a mild soap and water solution and clean with a soft toothbrush.. Be aware of surface filling treatments, they may be effected by chemicals and ultrasonics. Rubies are occationally oiled, if so, avoid chemicals and steam cleaning.
Sapphire	Corundum	Excellent	Yes	Yes	Use a commercial jewellery cleaner or a mild soap and water solution and clean with a soft toothbrush.. Be aware of surface filling treatments, they may be effected by chemicals and ultrasonics (as with ruby). Most teated sapphires are colour stable, except yellow and orange irradiated stones, they may fade in strong light.
Spinel	Spinel	Good	Yes	Yes	Use a commercial jewellery cleaner or a mild soap and water solution and clean with a soft toothbrush. Spinel is colour stable and is not normally colour enhanced. It is a durable stone, not requiring any special care.
Tanzanite	Zoisite	Poor	No	No	Use 'warm water only' in a mild soap and water solution to avoid thermal shock. Also avoid sudden temperature changes in outside conditions. Tanzanite has the appearance of a sapphire, but does not have the same durability. A perfect cleavage means avoiding physical knocks to prevent damage.
Topaz	Topaz	Poor	No	No	Use a commercial jewellery cleaner or a mild soap and water solution and clean with a soft tooth brush. Blue stones, from irradiated brown stones, are colour stable. Yellow and orange irradiated stones may fade in strong heat and light. Natural brown and irradiated green stones may fade in sunlight. Topaz has perfect cleavage, avoid physical knocks to prevent damage.
Tourmaline	All varieties	Good	Yes	No	Using commercial jewellery cleaners is ok. When using mild soap and water solutions use ' warm water only' as high temperatures may fade the colour of treated stones. Sudden temperature change may also induce thermal shock. Avoid prolonged exposure to sunlight or strong artificial light as irradiated stones may fade to their original paler colour.
Turquoise	Turquoise	Good	No	No	Use a commercial jewellery cleaner or a mild soap and water solution and clean with a soft toothbrush.. Turquoise is often treated with polymers to stabilise. Surface waxing is also done. Natural stones are porous, so avoid using chemicals, soaking or steam cleaning.
Yellow Beryl	Beryl	Fair	Yes	Yes	Use a commercial jewellery cleaner or use 'warm water only' in a mild soap solution to avoid thermal shock. Avoid exposure to sunlight and strong artificial light, to prevent treated stones fading to their original paler colour.
Zircon	Zircon	Fair to good	Yes	Yes	Use a commercial jewellery cleaner or a mild soap and water solution and clean with a soft toothbrush.. Avoid exposure to sunlight and strong artificial light, to avoid treated stones fading to their original paler colour. Wear with care to avoid physical blows, the facet edges are brittle and subject to chipping.

Chemical cleaners	Chemicals may remove dyes, oils and wax fillers from treated stones. Porous stones may be stained by cleaning fluids. Chlorine can discolour low carat gold by attacking the alloys within the metal. The presence of acids in solutions will damage some stones. Read the product instructions fully before using chemical cleaners. Beware that some gemstones are Incorrectly Named. Tradenames may describe a 'different species of stone'
Ultrasonics	Ultrasonics use high frequency vibrations to shake loose the dirt lodged between metalwork and the gemstones. Ultrasonics may damage some gemstones types. All heavily included gemstones are vulnerable to ultrasonics. Fracture filled and surface filled stones may lose their fillings. Check with a jeweller for advice on your stone before proceeding. Positively identify your gemstones before using ultrasonics, as many stones look similar to others, but some types 'will be damaged' if this method of cleaning is used. Before using a home ultrasonics device, have the stones identified and checked for inclusions or enhancements that may render this method of cleaning a risk. A jeweller or gemmologist will advise on this.
Steam cleaners	Steam cleaners can remove dyes, oils, wax fillers and other surface treatments. The heat from steam can also effect any stone that is prone to damage through thermal shock including 'heavily included stones'.
Boiling	Boiling is used as a cleaning method, but few gemstones can tolerate this method, untreated diamonds are one of the exceptions. Filled fractures may come loose, due to the difference in expansion between the gemstone and the filling material.
Soaking	Porous stones can be stained if soaked in solutions. Dyed, oiled and wax filled stones may loose their colour and take on a pale or dull appearance..

Ruby Mill Limited - gemstone information