Jewellery Care

Caring for your Solvar Jewellery

To keep your jewellery looking its best, we recommend you remove it when you shower, bathe, exercise or go swimming. When wearing jewellery, void contact with perfume, hairspray, deodorant, fake tan and hand sanitiser. Keep your pieces away from extreme temperatures & sunlight.

Cleaning

Sterling silver will naturally tarnish over time; use a dry microfibre cloth to keep your jewellery looking shiny and tarnish-free.

Storing

To protect your jewellery, store it separately in boxes or tissue paper. Avoid storing jewellery together, as this can cause scratches, chips, and knotting.

Diamonds

Diamonds should be cleaned regularly to maintain their brilliance. Use a soft brush, mild detergent, and warm water. Rinse well with clean water and leave to dry naturally.

Gold Jewellery

Gold is a "noble metal" - which means it will not tarnish, corrode or rust and most acids will not harm it - except in the most unusual of situations. (Sometimes perfumes and perspiration can discolour the other metals gold is mixed with).It is a wonderful metal to work - it can be drawn into fine wire, flattened or bent into shape. It can be highly reflective or matt finished making it an ideal metal to create exquisite, beautiful and fine jewellery. Pure Gold is 24 carats, yellow in colour and very soft so is mixed with other metals to give it strength and make is suitable for making jewellery.

White gold is very popular. It is created by mixing gold with other metals and then enhanced by rhodium plating, which gives a hard, white, and highly reflective finish. The rhodium plating on white gold will eventually wear, and it is advised that these items are periodically re-rhodium plated.

Sterling Silver Jewellery

Silver is a relatively light metal, making it practical to use and comfortable to wear. It is also the most reflective of all metals, making it ideal for producing exquisite and stunningly beautiful jewellery.

Silver fineness is expressed as parts per thousand and is normally alloyed with copper to make it stronger and harder. The sterling silver standard has a minimum millesimal fineness of 925. Sterling Silver comprises 92.5% of silver and 7.5% of other metals.

Silver naturally tarnishes due to sulphur dioxide in the atmosphere reacting with the surface of the metal. This can be easily cleaned with a liquid cleaner or cloth from jewellery stores.

IRISH HALLMARKS

The Assay office in Dublin Castle hallmarks all our sterling silver and gold jewellery.

The Dublin Assay Office is one of the oldest Assay offices in the world. It was founded in 1637 to ensure that only pure gold and silver were used in crafting jewellery throughout Ireland. It is still located today on the grounds of Dublin Castle. Every piece of our fine Irish jewellery continues to be hallmarked in the traditional way by the assay office as a symbol of quality and reliability.
An item’s hallmark signifies that it has been tested by an independent body and guarantees that the metal is of one the legal standards of fineness or purity. A hallmark shows exactly what the item is made up of, for example a 14K Gold hallmark will be stamped 14 for 14 karat and the number 585 means it contains 58.5% pure gold, the other 41.5% will be made up of other alloys and precious metals. 

When you purchase any piece of Solvar silver or gold jewellery you can be assured of it's guaranteed quality. 

Types of Irish Hallmarks