How to Care for and Clean Native American Jewelry

Most care advice for silver is written for flatware, and it does Southwest jewelry real harm. A dip that leaves a spoon bright will also strip the dark finish a silversmith put into the recesses of a bracelet on purpose, and it can change the color of a turquoise stone for good. This guide covers what to use, what never to use, how to handle stone-set and inlay pieces, and how to store, check and repair what you own. It applies to anything in our full collection of silver and turquoise jewelry, and to older pieces you may have inherited or bought elsewhere.

Before you clean: is the dark part meant to be there?

Look at the piece first. Much of the darkness on Southwest silver is not dirt. It is oxidation, and often the maker put it there. The Encyclopedia of Native American Jewelry describes artificially induced oxidation, “often through the use of liver of sulfur or potassium sulfide,” as “a design element used by native jewelers to produce contrast or depth on a piece,” and it is almost always used in overlay work. Its instruction is plain: “Deliberately blackened jewelry should not have its oxide finish removed through cleaning.”

A good rule: if the dark areas sit in the recesses and outline the design, leave them. If a haze covers the high, flat surfaces as well, that is tarnish, and that is what you clean off.

On an older piece, wait before you clean at all. The same encyclopedia calls patina “a natural polish that experts scrutinize to determine the age and authenticity of a jewelry piece.” Removing it can change what a dealer or appraiser sees. We cover that in The Price of Patina. Dark silver doesn’t prove age, though. Marsha Lund warns that “tarnish, or lack of it, is not necessarily an indication of age,” because new pieces are sometimes darkened with chemicals to look old.

Why silver tarnishes

Sterling silver is not pure silver. Under the Federal Trade Commission’s jewelry guides, “Sterling” may only describe metal that is “at least 925/1,000ths pure silver,” and the rest is usually copper, added for strength. That copper, the encyclopedia notes, “promotes surface oxidation through time and exposure to the elements.” Moisture from wear adds to it. For the older, lower silver standard you’ll find on some vintage pieces, see coin silver vs. sterling.

Wearing silver slows tarnish where it touches you. Lund observes that contact with skin oils “prevents silver from tarnishing in the areas where the jewelry touches the arm or finger,” while the parts that don’t touch darken quickly. That is why the inside of a ring or bracelet often stays bright while the outside darkens. In our experience, a piece you wear often needs less cleaning than one left in a drawer.

The everyday clean: a jeweler’s rouge cloth

The references agree on one tool. The Turnbaughs recommend a polishing cloth with jeweler’s rouge, which “will remove tarnish from the surface without damaging stones and without polishing dark areas of the silver that the craftsman deliberately oxidized to heighten the contrast of the silver design.” The encyclopedia says the same: “Native-made silver jewelry should be cleaned with a jeweler’s rouge polishing cloth because liquid polishes can remove oxidation that should remain in place.” Joe Dan and Joe P. Lowry, writing about turquoise, agree that tarnished silver set with turquoise “can be cleaned with a polishing cloth.”

How we use one:

• Make sure the piece is free of grit first. A grain of sand rubbed under a cloth will scratch the silver.
• Rub the raised and flat surfaces with light, even strokes. The cloth reaches the high points and skips the recesses, which is exactly why it leaves the oxidation alone.
• Keep the treated side of the cloth off the stones.
• Finish with a clean, soft cloth. Never dry or polish silver with a paper towel or tissue; the fibers scratch.

A cloth used this way is the whole routine for most pieces, most of the time.

Plain silver with no stones

For an all-silver piece with no stones, such as a plain band, a cuff or a strand of silver beads, a little mild dish soap in warm water will lift lotion and skin oil the cloth can’t reach. Use a soft toothbrush on stamped or textured areas, rinse, and pat the piece dry at once with a soft, lint-free cloth. Water left to air-dry can spot. This is our advice for plain silver only. Once a piece has a stone, the rules change.

Stone-set and inlay pieces: never soak them

A setting is more than a bezel around a stone. Southwest smiths have often put something under the stone to level or cushion it. The encyclopedia records: “Native jewelers have improvised with the use of such materials as sawdust, cardboard, and paper (ranging from tissue to newspaper) under stones, often to level the stones when they are being set.” Lund describes padding the base of a shallow stone with cardboard or sawdust “to form a cushion for the stone.” Wood fiber and paper swell when they get wet, and that pressure can push a stone out of its bezel. We explain how that happens in why a stone falls out of vintage jewelry. Newer pieces may use epoxy instead, and in our experience water can weaken that too.

The stone itself is the other reason. The Turnbaughs write: “Turquoise stones should be kept away from oil, detergents, and harsh cleaning agents which may alter the color and texture of the stone.” The Lowrys give the same rule: “keep it away from oils, detergents, abrasives, and liquid jewelry cleaners.” They add: “Over time, most hand soaps, shampoos, and hairsprays can darken or change the color of a turquoise.”

So for any piece with stones:

• Clean the silver with the rouge cloth and keep the cloth off the stones.
• If a stone is dusty, wipe it with a soft cloth barely dampened with plain water, then dry it right away.
• Don’t hold the piece under a tap, and don’t let water sit in a bezel.
• Take extra care with small-stone work. Of inlay and petit point made from softer turquoise, the Lowrys write: “This style of jewelry needs to be constantly kept away from lotions, silver cleaners, or other foreign substances.” In our experience coral and shell need the same care.

Stabilized turquoise is more forgiving. The Lowrys note that stabilizing bonds the stone so that “most oils and detergents cannot penetrate the turquoise’s structure.” If you don’t know whether a stone is stabilized, our advice is to care for it as if it were natural. For more on how stones are treated, see our guide to fake and treated turquoise.

What never to use

You’ll find plenty of home recipes for bright silver. Skip them on Southwest jewelry.

• Silver dips and liquid polishes. The encyclopedia warns: “Liquid-based cleaners for silver and other metals may be injurious to native-made pieces, especially those with channels or oxidated recesses.” The Lowrys add that liquid silver cleaners “can react with a turquoise, dulling its polish and/or changing its color.”
• Baths of any kind, including the popular hot-water bath with foil and baking soda. We don’t recommend them for oxidized or stone-set pieces. A bath reaches every recess the maker darkened, and it soaks every setting.
• Paste polishes and cleaning solutions. The Turnbaughs are firm: they “also may affect the stones in Indian jewelry and should never be utilized.”
• Abrasives: toothpaste, baking-soda paste, scouring powder and steel wool. They scratch the silver and can mar a stone.
• Ultrasonic and steam cleaners. Our advice is to keep stone-set pieces out of them, since they work by immersing the piece in liquid.
• Bleach, chlorinated water and household cleaners. Our advice: take jewelry off before you clean the house, swim or use a hot tub.

Wear it well

Put your jewelry on last, after lotion, perfume and hairspray have dried, and take it off first. Take it off to garden, swim, exercise or wash dishes. The Turnbaughs add two points that are easy to forget. “Cuff bracelets and other pieces should not be bent because stones may pop out,” so never squeeze a cuff to make it smaller. And this jewelry is heavier than most, so it is easy to knock a ring on a table edge or swing a heavy naja into something when you lean forward.

Storage

Store each piece on its own, in a soft pouch or a lined box with separate compartments, so hard stones and silver edges can’t scratch each other. Keep jewelry out of damp places, like a bathroom, and out of direct sun. Hang bead strands or lay them flat so they don’t tangle; our guide to layering silver bead necklaces covers strands in more detail.

Check it, and know when to hand it over

“Stones should be checked periodically,” the Turnbaughs advise. Every so often, look for a stone that moves in its bezel, a bezel edge that has lifted, a thin or cracked shank, or a worn spot on a necklace cord near the clasp. The encyclopedia notes that restringing older strands “is a sensible solution for items that will be worn regularly.” Keep any loose stone, and stop wearing the piece until it is fixed.

Choose the repairer with care. The encyclopedia warns: “A jewelry repair shop, with staff unused to working with Indian jewelry, can inadvertently damage a piece through a simple lack of knowledge,” and that repair and restoration “must be done by professionals familiar with the materials and techniques used by Native American jewelry-makers.” The best person to ask is often the maker. If you buy directly from an artist, the encyclopedia suggests asking about care at the time of purchase and keeping the artist’s address for later. For any other piece, ask the dealer you bought it from.

The short version

Use a rouge cloth on the silver and keep it off the stones. Never dip, soak or scrub. Use soap and water only on plain silver with no stones. Leave the dark finish in the recesses, and think twice before cleaning an older piece at all. Put your jewelry on last, store each piece apart, and have a specialist make any repair. Then wear it often, since wear keeps silver bright. When you’re ready for something new, browse everything in our shop.

Related reading

• T.Skies jewelry care guide
• The Price of Patina
• Why did the stone fall out of my vintage jewelry?
• Coin silver vs. sterling

Frequently asked questions

Field Notes by Mateo James

This guide recommends a jeweler's rouge cloth and says the references agree on it. Writing in 2013 about vintage silver, June asked for a plain soft cloth with no solutions or rouge compounds, and advised polishing sparingly, if at all. I note the disagreement and show both.

Sources

• Paula A. Baxter with Allison Bird-Romero. Encyclopedia of Native American Jewelry. 2000, pp. 7 (“backing”), 128 (“oxidation”), 130 (“patina”), 160 (“silver”), 200–201 (Appendix 2, “A Note on the Wear, Care, and Selection of Native American Jewelry”).
• William A. Turnbaugh and Sarah Peabody Turnbaugh. Indian Jewelry of the American Southwest. Schiffer, n.d., “Care of Jewelry.”
• Joe Dan Lowry and Joe P. Lowry. Turquoise: The World Story of a Fascinating Gemstone. 2010, pp. 175, 178–179.
• Marsha Mayer Lund. Indian Jewelry: Fact and Fantasy. 1976, pp. 117, 119, 136.
• Federal Trade Commission. Guides for the Jewelry, Precious Metals, and Pewter Industries, 16 CFR § 23.5(b)(2).
• Lowry, Joe Dan, and Joe P. Lowry. Turquoise: The World Story of a Fascinating Gemstone. Layton, UT: Gibbs Smith, 2010. Cited by printed page. Statements describe conditions as of 2010.
• Turnbaugh, William A., and Sarah Peabody Turnbaugh. Indian Jewelry of the American Southwest. Foreword by Barry M. Goldwater. Atglen, PA: Schiffer Publishing, 2007 (copyright 1996 and 2007; first published 1988). ISBN 0-7643-2577-9. Cited by printed page. Statements describe conditions as of 2007.
• June, Dennis. Fred Harvey Jewelry 1900–1955. Atglen, PA: Schiffer Publishing, 2013. Cited by printed page. Statements describe conditions as of 2013.