Top 5 things you should never do with your jewelry!

Never wear your jewelry in a hot tub or swimming pool! Chlorinated hot tubs and swimming pools are a no no for jewelry of all types. Chlorine is a very caustic chemical and will damage all fine jewelry unless it is made exclusively of platinum or palladium. This is because gold and silver jewelry are alloyed with zinc and nickel, and chlorine will leach those metals from your jewelry. Enough exposure and your jewelry will literally fall apart.

Never sleep with your jewelry on! Okay, we know many of you are guilty of this because our repair department is ALWAYS busy. Sleeping with your jewelry causes undue stress and wear and tear, more so than wearing your jewelry during the day. This is because your jewelry is literally being crushed, yanked and stretched for eight hours each night! Your bracelets and necklaces and anklets especially are at risk. Each time you roll over or change positions while sleeping your jewelry is exposed to the pull and push of your body against your mattress and pillow and blanket. This is bad. What about your engagement and wedding ring? While they are not as vulnerable, they are still at risk of damage. Prongs can catch on fabrics and get pulled open without your knowing. Best to take it all off . . . the jewelry, that is. :)

Never do yard work while wearing your rings! Yes, you probably wear gloves while raking and digging and mowing in your yard, but that is not enough to prevent your rings from being damaged. Raking and digging and mowing are hard work! Those activities place a lot of pressure on your hands and fingers, and on your rings. Prongs can get bent or broken. Delicate gems like opals and emeralds can chip or break completely. Thin rings can get bent out of shape or snap. And if you don't wear gloves you risk even more damage. We all know what sandpaper would do to our rings, and we all know that sandpaper is made out of the same stuff in our gardens. Sand. Enough said.

Never take your jewelry swimming at the beach! I know what you're thinking. If I can't wear my jewelry in the pool or to bed or while doing yard work or at the beach, where can I wear it? Only at work? (we will get to that one next!) Why should you take off your jewelry before going to the beach? I have a customer who is retired and spends much of his free time metal-detecting. He finds all sorts of things, much of it jewelry. He's found thousands and thousands of dollars of lost jewelry. And guess where he finds it. Yup! At the beach. And guess where at the beach. In the water. The beach is like the Bermuda Triangle of lost jewelry. All the conditions are right for disaster. You're all slathered up in slippery oils, you're walking around in the sand and you're frolicking in the water. Rings that are a little loose on you suddenly slip off. Anklets and bracelets that are little worn suddenly snap. The sand and the water swallow them up. They are gone before your eyes, only to be found by a metal-detecting retiree. 

Never wear your jewelry at work . . . if your job is physically demanding! We can all agree that an electrician, carpenter, stone mason or mechanic should probably not wear their jewelry on the job. In fact, most employers in those fields do not allow their workers to wear jewelry. But there some other jobs that can be damaging to your jewelry that you might not think about. Many rings, especially taller rings like engagement rings, are damaged by filing cabinets while filing papers. Watches and glued items like pearl rings can be damaged if exposed to water if you are a waitress or nurse or teacher. I once had a lab technician whose watch never kept time properly because he worked at the hospital giving MRIs and the magnetism he encountered affected his watch. 

Never clean your ring with toothpaste! Apparently there are some people who have been told that toothpaste makes a handy jewelry cleaner. The problem is that most toothpaste contains fluoride and fluoride is much like chlorine when it comes to precious metals and their alloys. It can damage them. Need a quick and safe jewelry cleaning solution? Mix a little dish washing liquid (make sure it's chlorine free) and water and use that. 

If you find yourself forgetting to take off your jewelry when you should, or you just don't want to, remember one thing: We do all our jewelry repair on premises right here in our store at 42 Central Street, Southbridge, Mass!

Shawn Cormier

Cormier Jewelers

42 Central Street

Southbridge, Ma 01550

tel 1-508-764-7415

www.ecormiers.com

CormierJewelers@aol.com

Do jewelers really switch diamonds on customers?

We've all heard the tale. A jeweler gets caught switching out a customer's diamond for a fake after repairing it in the back room. The tale is handed down from person to person and retold over and over until, understandably, everyone becomes very nervous to leave their diamond with a jeweler. As jewelers, we have heard this tale even more often than the average customer. We hear it nearly every time a new customer comes to us to have their diamond ring worked on. "How do I know I'm getting back my diamond? How do I know you are not going to switch it out for a fake?"

First, as reputable jewelers, we completely understand the anxiety created by those rare unethical jewelers who have tainted our occupation. I say rare because it is indeed a rare occurrence that a jeweler would choose to break the law and switch out a customer's diamond for a fake. Most jewelers are honest, hard working reputable business people who understand that the only way to grow their business is to always treat the customer with honesty and integrity, that there is more to be gained by being honest than by being dishonest.

So if most jewelers are honest and reputable, why do so many people still mistrust leaving their diamond with them? I can tell you why in one word: transparency. Jewelers need to be completely transparent with customers when they leave their diamonds for repair or remounting. That means a jeweler must explain and show and record all the details of a customer's diamond when it is left for repair, and allow the customer to compare those records against the diamond they get back after the repair to prove that diamond is indeed their diamond and not another lesser quality diamond or a fake. This seems so simple and forthright that you would think that all jewelers would do this, but sadly they don't.

Why don't many jewelers fail to be completely transparent? I can tell you why, again, in one word: knowledge. Sadly, many people who work in jewelry stores are not fully trained in the skills of their profession. So when they take in a piece of jewelry for repair, they may not know what they are taking in. They may not know what the stone is, what the piece is made of, if the stone or material can be damaged by heat, how the item should be repaired, and so on and so on. It is knowledge that separates jewelers from clerks. And it is the sharing of this knowledge with customers that separates careful jewelers who stay above reproach from careless jewelers who get accused of crimes they have not committed.

Another issue is whether or not the jeweler does all their repairs on premises or whether they send them out. When a jewelers sends out their repairs they lose a level of control and that opens up problems. What if the jeweler they send their repairs to isn't as reputable and transparent and knowledgeable as they are? Always take your jewelry to a jeweler who does their work on premises.

At Cormier Jewelers in Southbridge, not only do we do all our repairs and diamond setting on premises right here in our store, we are very careful when taking in our customer's jewelry over the counter. Our training from the Gemological Institute of America in diamonds grading, colored stone identification and jewelry repair have made us experts, and we gladly share our knowledge with our customers. When you drop off your diamond we will measure it to within a tenth of a millimeter. note any inclusions or chips or abrasions and identifying marks, describe the mounting in detail, examine the entire ring to be sure it is sound and wearable without risk of losing stones, let you look at your diamond under magnification if you want and give you a receipt which can be compared to the item when you pick it up. On top of that we guaranty all work done for one full year. This way you can feel confident and rest easy whenever you give us your diamond for repair.

Shawn Cormier
Cormier Jewelers
42 Central Street
Southbridge, Ma 01550
tel 1-508-764-7415
www.ecormiers.com
CormierJewelers@aol.com