Come To The Stagecoach For So Much More!
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At the Stagecoach, David Rosales is our most popular Native American jewelry artist. His designs are beautiful works of art that can be worn every day. David's use of color makes creating a gorgeous full matching set super easy. But, as with most jewelry, his pieces do require a modest amount of care to keep them bright and vibrant. The reason I am writing this is that I want you to be able to enjoy your David Rosales jewelry for a long time. Unlike some places, it is not our goal to force you into buying replacements. We do not want you to have any buyer’s remorse and it is our hope that you will have a wonderful experience with your David Rosales jewelry. If you follow these simple guidelines, your pieces can last for many years.
1. Keep Your Sterling Silver Clean
Most of David Rosales’ jewelry is sterling silver. I say most because he will create any of his pieces in gold if requested. However, because gold costs far more, the vast majority are sterling silver. As with all sterling silver, they will tarnish over time. That being said, it is amazingly easy to clean them with a silver polishing cloth. At the Stagecoach, we carry Sunshine Polishing Cloths but there are others out there. Most of the time all you need to do is spend about 30 seconds polishing your jewelry. This normally only needs to be done once every few months. The good news is, the more you wear your David Rosales jewelry, the shinier it will stay. Believe it or not, when you inadvertently rub your fingers against your ring throughout the day, it helps polish the silver. I have an entire article on the proper ways to clean your sterling silver jewelry if you would like more information.
What you absolutely do not want to use on your David Rosales jewelry is any silver polishing liquid. While we do not recommend this on any of our Native American jewelry, this is especially true for inlaid pieces. This liquid can damage many inlaid stones, such as turquoise and coral. If you want your jewelry to last, please stay away from these liquid dips. Polishing cloths are just as easy and do not carry any risk to your jewelry.
2. Sizing Inlaid Rings
There are a lot of different techniques used in the Native American jewelry community. However, inlaid jewelry does have a few special considerations to be aware of. First, inlaid rings cannot be sized in the same way that other sterling silver rings can be. At the Stagecoach, we are only able to size our David Rosales rings up to one size bigger. The reason for this is that when you make a ring bigger or smaller you are actually changing the size and structure of the ring. Silver is malleable and is easily formed into the size and shape that you need. Stones, however, cannot be bent or reshaped. Once you bend the silver so far, the stones inlaid in the band will pop out. This is why it is almost impossible to resize inlaid rings more than about a single size bigger. I stress, it has nothing to do with the skill of a jeweler. You may have a favorite jeweler in your hometown that you trust with your jewelry. Any jeweler is going to run into problems trying to size inlaid rings.
If you order a David Rosales ring and we do not have the correct size, we will have a matching piece made specifically for you. Therefore, it sometimes takes a little bit of time to receive a new piece of David Rosales jewelry. If in the future your ring size changes, it is important that you do not have your ring resized. A qualified silversmith should know not to resize inlaid rings, but you don’t want to take the chance. Instead, if your ring size has changed, please contact us first. We may be able to work with you on getting a new ring in the correct size.
3. Remove Your David Rosales Jewelry at Night and While Working
You also need to be careful not to be too rough on your David Rosales jewelry. Just as resizing your ring can change its shape and result in stones popping out, so too can hard impacts. If you hit your ring right or bend it in any way, the stones can crack or come out. Typically, this is only a concern with rings because earrings and pendants do not get knocked around as much. We recommend taking your David Rosales jewelry off while doing any physical work with your hands. Even if the stones do not come out, sterling silver (and gold) is a soft metal and can be scratched easily.
Even though I issue that warning, having stones fall out of our David Rosales jewelry is very uncommon and not something that you need to be concerned with. Of the many pieces that go out our door every year, I would say that we never have more than three or four that have any issues. It tends to occur more with men who leave their rings on while working. If you have the awareness to take off your jewelry when doing physical work, you shouldn’t have a problem. For instance, if we get a large shipment in and I need to carry some big boxes, I always take my rings off first.
I would recommend this advice for any nice jewelry, regardless of where it is purchased or if it has inlaid stones. Why take the risk of scratching your favorite piece, or worse, snagging a prong and losing your expensive diamond? As an analogy, think if you purchase an expensive vehicle. You make sure to wash it regularly, park it in a garage for protection, and avoid driving it in potentially damaging situations. The same care should be given to any nice piece of jewelry. I cannot stress enough, if you want your jewelry to last, please take it off at night, before showering, and avoid any potentially damaging situations.
While it is obviously best to preemptively avoid this, if a stone does fall out of your Supersmith piece, simply contact us and we can have it repaired. David Rosales will fix your jewelry at no cost if there are no obvious signs of abuse. Obviously, if you have a ring that, for instance, got ran over by a truck to the point where it cannot be repaired, then there isn’t much that can be done. But if you take some care while wearing his jewelry, he is very good about fixing it. You may only be asked to pay a small fee for shipping it to him.
That is all you need to be aware of with your David Rosales jewelry. While some of this may be concerning to you, it really isn’t anything to worry about. If you take a little care with your piece, there is no reason that it can’t last for many years. If something ever does happen to it, please contact us so we can help you alleviate the issue. Again, it is not our goal to make you purchase a replacement every so often. We want you to be able to enjoy your jewelry for a long time. If you follow this guideline, I am confident that you will.
Skylar Glandon
Author