Vintage Jewellery

Vintage and antique jewellery deserves tender, loving care and taking a little time to look after your precious jewellery should ensure that you can enjoy it for years to come. We recommend the following:

• Firstly, try not to drop or knock it! Some early plastics like bakelite or lucite can be delicate and easily damaged. Similarly crystals and diamante can chip, crack and scratch and since superglue was not around to be used in vintage pieces some settings (even traditional claw settings) may not be very robust or secure and so stones or settings can become dislodged or lost.
• Perfumes, body sprays and cosmetics are the enemies of many jewellery items and should not come into contact with your jewellery since they can lead to discoloration and tarnishing – and at the least a build up of these products can dull the appearance of many jewellery items.
• Household cleaning products have the same or worse effect.
• Showering or bathing in precious metals may be fine but plated items and costume jewellery should always be removed before contact with water.
• Some jewellery items can be briefly cleaned in warm water with a very mild detergent (some beads for example) but if in any doubt seek specialist advice from your jeweller.
• Beaded jewellery, particularly vintage pearls which were often strung on silk, should be attended to immediately if you notice any wear to the stringing. Re-stringing is often very cost-effective and failure to do so will ultimately lead to the loss of the beads when the stringing eventually fails.
• Finally, you will sleep more comfortably, and your jewellery will last longer, if you remove it before bed.

Vintage Furs

All furs, and vintage in particular, benefit from correct storage and cleaning. When not being worn for prolonged periods (such as the summer months) furs should be kept in cold storage if possible and a specialist furrier should be able to give you advice on this subject.

You should never attempt to wash or clean your fur yourself and should always have the item specialist cleaned. Vintage furs in particular benefit from specialist cleaning, especially if you do not know when the fur was last cleaned or where it was stored.

Always be sure to let your fur dry naturally if you have been out in the rain and hang up on a sturdy (not thin metal) coat hanger and place in a cool, dry and dark wardrobe or closet until you next wear it. Never leave your fur exposed to sunlight.

Vintage Bags & Handbags

- Leather & Exotic Skin Handbags

Avoid getting your bag wet and if it does get caught in rain allow to dry naturally. Use only a specialist cleaning product appropriate to the particular type of leather/skin of your handbag.

Never wash patent leather handbags with detergent – use a small amount of baby oil to clean/restore instead.

- Silk/Satin/Fabric Evening Bags

Never attempt to wash the bag yourself, always seek specialist dry cleaning advice. Again avoid getting the bag wet (many fabrics will not recover from this).

Beaded or decorated bags that suffer damage should be repaired immediately as failure to deal with a broken thread etc could lead to large areas of decoration becoming unravelled!

Your bags will benefit from being stored away from light and strong smells.