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Caring for Your Gemstones During Replating

What Gemstones Can Withstand Replating? A Comprehensive Guide

What Gemstones Can Withstand Replating? A Comprehensive Guide

The Replating Process and Why Gemstones Matter

Replating jewellery involves applying a fresh layer of metal—like gold or rhodium—over the existing piece. During this process, the jewellery is often cleaned, polished, and sometimes exposed to heat or chemicals to prepare the surface for plating.

Here’s where gemstones come in. While metals like gold and silver handle replating with ease, some gemstones are far less forgiving. Delicate stones can crack, discolour, or lose their polish if exposed to harsh chemicals or high temperatures. This is why understanding your gemstones is crucial before diving into a replating project.

Gemstones That Can Withstand Replating

Diamonds

Let’s start with the toughest of them all—diamonds. As the hardest natural substance on earth, diamonds can handle the rigours of replating without breaking a sweat. Whether it’s heat, chemicals, or polishing, diamonds are highly resistant to damage, making them a replating-friendly choice.

Rubies and Sapphires

Rubies and sapphires are also excellent candidates for replating. Both are part of the corundum family, which is second only to diamonds in hardness. These stones are durable and resistant to scratches, meaning they can withstand the plating process with minimal risk.

Spinel, Garnet, and Topaz

These gemstones are relatively hard and stable, making them suitable for replating as well. While they aren’t as tough as diamonds or sapphires, their resilience ensures they’ll come out unscathed with proper care during the process.

Gemstones That Require Caution

Emeralds

Emeralds are undeniably beautiful, but they’re also notoriously fragile. With a tendency to crack or chip under pressure, they don’t handle replating well. Most emeralds are treated with oils or resins to enhance their appearance, and exposure to heat or chemicals during replating can damage these treatments. In these instances, the goldsmith will mask off your stones to protect them from the heat.

Opals

Opals are soft, porous, and highly sensitive to heat and chemicals. Replating can cause them to lose their lustre or develop cracks. If you’re considering replating a piece with opals, please get in touch with us so we can discuss your options.

Pearls

While pearls aren’t technically gemstones, they’re worth mentioning here. Soft and delicate, pearls can’t withstand the replating process at all. If you’d like to have a pearl piece replated with us, get in touch.

Gemstones That Should Never Be Exposed to Replating

Turquoise and Lapis Lazuli

These stones are porous and easily damaged by chemicals or heat. During replating, they can discolour or develop surface cracks, permanently affecting their appearance. Pieces with turquoise or lapis lazuli should always have the stones removed before plating.

Amber and Coral

Organic materials like amber and coral are highly sensitive to heat, chemicals, and polishing tools. These materials are better left untouched during the replating process, as they’re far too delicate to withstand the treatment.

Non-Precious Stones: What You Need to Know About Cubic Zirconias

Non-precious stones, like cubic zirconias, are a common choice in jewellery and deserve special mention when it comes to replating. These stones are highly popular due to their affordability and resemblance to diamonds. But how do they hold up in the replating process?

Cubic Zirconias Are Tough, but Not Indestructible

Cubic zirconias are synthetic gemstones, and while they’re durable and scratch-resistant, they don’t have the same hardness as natural diamonds or sapphires. This means they can still be damaged by excessive heat or abrasive polishing.

What Happens During Replating?

When replating jewellery with cubic zirconias, the stones are generally able to handle the process well. However, our jewellers take care to minimise exposure to high temperatures and harsh chemicals to prevent cloudiness or discolouration.

Precautions for Other Non-Precious Stones

Stones like glass or resin, which are sometimes used in fashion or costume jewellery, can be more sensitive than cubic zirconias. These materials may discolour, scratch, or even crack during replating. For pieces with such stones, we carefully evaluate whether replating is the best option.

At Finematter, we ensure that non-precious stones like cubic zirconias remain brilliant and flawless throughout the replating process by tailoring our techniques to the needs of the piece.

How We Protect Gemstones During Replating

At Finematter, we know that preserving the beauty of your gemstones is just as important as replating the metal. That’s why we use specialised techniques to shield your gemstones from damage throughout the process.

Masking Delicate Stones

For delicate or heat-sensitive gemstones like opals and emeralds, we use a masking technique. This involves carefully covering the stones with a protective material to ensure they are completely insulated from the heat and chemicals used during electroplating.

Gentle Cleaning and Polishing

Before we begin replating, our jewellers use gentle cleaning methods to avoid damaging stones. For softer gemstones, this may involve avoiding ultrasonic cleaners and instead using mild, non-invasive techniques to prepare the jewellery for plating.

Stone Removal and Resetting

For highly sensitive materials like pearls, turquoise, or coral, we recommend removing the stones entirely before replating. Our skilled jewellers carefully reset these stones after the replating process, ensuring that the finished piece is flawless and safe.

Precision Application

Electroplating is a precise art. For intricate pieces, we apply plating selectively to ensure the gemstones remain untouched. This technique is especially useful for jewellery with multiple materials, as it allows us to refresh the metal without compromising the stones.

Why Choose Finematter for Replating?

At Finematter, we treat every piece of jewellery as if it were our own. Whether it’s shielding delicate opals with masking techniques or ensuring non-precious stones like cubic zirconias remain flawless, our expert jewellers handle your jewellery with the utmost care.

With our advanced techniques and attention to detail, you can trust us to bring your jewellery back to life—preserving its gemstones and restoring its original brilliance.

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