Fine Wood Jewelry Boxes Blog

Most women love to collect jewelry – fine jewelry, costume jewelry, you name it – but it’s equally important to consider the proper storage of your jewelry as it is to enhance your collection. My personal favorites are bangle bracelets; I swear I have them in just about every color, but my absolute favorite set is the turquoise bangles.

I keep my bangles in a unique jewelry box that I found at a garage sale, what a find! It’s a handcrafted maple wood box that opens with a hinged lid. Inside you’d find a plum-tinted velvet lining and on top of the box is the outline of a butterfly that has been carved into the wood. I have other jewelry boxes for the rest of my collection, but I reserve the best box for my favorite pieces.

My Grandpa Joe loves to collect keys. A strange fetish to some, his collection dates all the way back to the early 1900’s. He’s pretty old, 79 years old to be exact, but his array of keys in indeed older. He started his collection at age 6 with three keys that he inherited from his dad who had also been a key collector. Today, he has more than 2,000 keys in his collection.

He keeps his keys in several handmade wooden jewelry boxes that are spread across his bedroom dresser. And every so often he opens his jewelry boxes and fingers through the hundreds of keys kept in each one. I’ve never really understood his reasoning behind his collection, other than that it reminds him of family. Sometimes I joke that he hopes to find a key that will unlock a magnificent treasure.

Silver is a metal that requires a certain amount of care and with reason.  Items such as handmade silver jewelry are meticulous pieces and often difficult to recreate, so putting an equal amount of care into something that an artisan put in to creating it is paramount.

Oftentimes, you’ll find that everyday usage and contact into something like foods could cause tarnish in silver. When you’re not using your jewelry, it’s a good idea to keep them in a box, away from the elements. An anti-phosphate strip and the occasional wash with warm water should keep your jewelry looking new.

Here are some really easy and quick tips to remember so you can keep your necklace or bracelet looking new:

1.  Don’t use Toothpaste, ever, as a silver polish. Many toothpastes ingredients which even in trace amounts may cause serious damage. Only use silver polishes.

2. Don’t use polishes that have dried-up (the abrasive particles are now much too concentrated and will harm your silver), don’t use steel wool or any type of scouring pads (too abrasive), or chemical dips (too toxic).

3. Removing Labels. Try using a hair dryer to soften the adhesive, then the label should come off easily. Remove any sticky residues with isopropyl alcohol. Any discoloration can be removed with a tiny bit of silver polish.

4. Always use the smallest amount of polish possible.

5. Never rub polish in a circular motion.

6. Keep your jewelry stored in a two drawer jewelry box to maintain its shine.