Summer Fun

950 platinum ring with a 1.30 ct. diamond

Despite the weather we've had the last few days summer is rapidly approaching and I thought I would give you some recommendations for proper enjoyment of the next few months, so here they are:

1) If there are sharks in the water don't go in!  This would seem kind of obvious to most people but some people really like to get close to wildlife.

2) Put on your sunscreen.  Jewelry doesn't look as good against bright red skin tones. 

3) Don't drink too much when you're at the beach.  You might not see the sharks and stumble into the water.

And last but not least:

4) DON'T WEAR YOUR GOLD JEWELRY INTO SWIMMING POOLS!

And that's actually what I wanted to talk about in this post. 

Despite my constant reminders to my customers and a plethora of information on it available on the web, I find that a large number of people still aren't aware of this issue.  The chlorine found in most swimming pools (and hot tubs) can actually dissolve small amounts of gold on your jewelry if it is exposed often enough to it.  Now this may not be much of a problem for a plain gold band, and will probably be unnoticeable on something of that sort, but if you have stones in your ring, and especially if they are set in prongs, there is a good likelihood that you may lose one of your stones. 

When gemstones are set in prong settings the prongs are cut so that they can fold over the tops of the stones to hold them in place.  The area where they are cut can be extremely thin in some cases and it doesn't take much time for chlorine to eat away at an area like that.  Suddenly you've dropped a couple of prongs into the pool and the stone goes with it.  Trust me, once the diamond has fallen out, the chance that you'll actually find the stone in a full size swimming pool is just about nil.  For some reason white gold seems to be worse when it comes to this, probably related to the most common alloys used in the gold (at least in the nickle white gold most traditional jewelers use). 

Unfortunately I know that some of you are going to take this advice and then make another mistake.  You're going to take off the jewelry when you get to the pool and there is going to be no place safe to leave the stuff while you're in the water.  Lockers at pool clubs or gyms are notoriously unsafe.  People routinely troll through any locker they can get open looking for just this type of thing.  So think about this BEFORE you head off to the local pool and leave it in a secure place in your house. 
For more information on this you should read my articles on jewelry security starting with this one  For that matter given how often we tend to leave our houses open at this time of year it would probably be a good time to read all the articles in the security series again anyway. 

So have a really wonderful summer but remember: no jewelry in pools!

950 Platinum Custom One of a Kind Diamond Engagement Ring