AUTHOR CARLY LAMBERT / CATEGORY JEWELRY TRENDS / PUBLISHED: DEC-10-2019

After a little over two months in the jewelry business, I’ve learned at least enough to survive and sell things. After Christmas I’m really getting serious about my jewelry knowledge but for now, here’s a few fun facts I’ve learn (some may seem obvious, sorry!)

#1- There’s a difference between white gold & silver.

• White gold is an alloy of gold and at least one white metal (usually nickel, silver, or palladium). Like yellow gold, the purity of white gold is given in karats. Since it’s gold, it’ll cost you more but it’ll hold up longer.
• Silver is a soft, grayish-white metal. Sterling silver is an alloy of silver containing 92.5% by weight of silver and 7.5% by weight of other metals, usually copper. Sterling Silver can tarnish over time but is a lower price point than white gold.
• Most engagement rings you see that look “silver” are white gold.

#2- Y’all have dirty jewelry.

• If you want to keep your rings, earrings, pendants, etc. looking sparkly all the time, don’t put lotion on with your jewelry on, don’t shower with your jewelry on, don’t go swimming with your jewelry on, don’t knead dough with your jewelry on, don’t sleep with your jewelry on (it can snag and rub on sheets). But regardless of what you do with your jewelry on, one of my favorite activities at Lambert Jewelers is to clean jewelry because it is satisfying to see the transformation. (And P.S. even us employees get our jewelry dirty. Life gets busy and you don’t always think about it.) We sell jewelry cleaner for home ($5 & change) but we also offer free cleaning in our ultrasonic any time!

#3- We have to pull jewelry out of our cases every morning & every night.

• Due to insurance requirements, we have to pack up all of our jewelry each night and lock it in a vault. Each morning, we have to set it out again.

#4- If you are having a hard time getting your rings off, try Windex glass cleaner!

• If that’s not working, come see us and we might have to cut your ring off.

#5- We have jewelry in all price points from $5 to $5,000.

• We strive to have products that make purchasing comfortable for all budgets!

#6- Just like tires on a car, your jewelry needs maintenance.

• If you wear your jewelry every day, eventually it will need work done. Your tips (the metal pieces that keep your stones in place) eventually wear and need replaced. The shank (the part of the ring that fits around your finger) might bend or thin. We can fix that! Smaller diamonds might fall out when we hit our hands on things. Over time they become loose and need tightened. We recommend bringing in your rings once a year for us to check if any work needs done.

#7- If you have a white gold ring, it needs Rhodium plated.

• Rhodium plating is a metal deposition process used to coat white gold with a decorative and protective layer of rhodium. Rhodium is a noble metal that imparts an extremely bright and hard-wearing finish when applied as plating. Rhodium will bring back shine & luster to your ring. We recommend a Rhodium treatment once a year.

#8- Diamonds & Gemstones are mined from the earth in various parts of the world.

• For example, opals come primarily from the deserts of Australia. Some of the finest rubies in the world come from Myanmar. Peridot can be found in the Hawaiian Islands. Key sources of emerald include Colombia, Brazil, Pakistan, Africa and Russia. Diamonds are mined from Russia, Botswana, Canada, South Africa, and others. The only active diamond mine in the United States is near Murfreesboro, Who knew that shopping local at Lambert Jewelers also meant supporting economies worldwide!

#9-Most pearls made today are cultured, or man-made. This process is done by inserting a small shell into an oyster, who then painstakingly covers it with pearl material over a minimum of three years.

#10- Our jewelry comes from a variety of different jewelry designers.

• This seems like a really obvious one but I didn’t truly understand it until I started. We have 2-3 designers that we work with most frequently but we have access to hundreds of jewelry designers that offer just about anything you can imagine.