If you wear or own a lot of jewelry, you will appreciate both the value and the beauty of it, and never more so than when you have a few gemstone rings or earrings. It is often the sparkle of the diamonds or the rubies that make your pieces so eye-catching and attractive. The problem with owning a lot of gemstone jewelry, though, is the fact that it can be so fragile. It is true that diamond is the hardest natural substance known to man, but one diamond is still capable of doing some damage to another one, and certainly doing far worse to a ruby or emerald.

If you happen to be partial to emerald rings or other types of emerald jewelry, it is worth knowing that emerald is far softer than ruby or sapphire, and diamond is the hardest of all. So your emerald ring will need some careful handling if you also own other gemstone rings. It is advisable to make sure you are careful when wearing any of these rings, and do not let them accidentally knock against hard surfaces – natural emerald is well-known for being particularly prone to “inclusions”, which act as weak spots. One sharp tap can easily chip it, and it will be ruined. The other stones will not thank you for harsh treatment either, but are usually sturdier.

It is important, if you keep your trinkets in a jewelry box, to use one that has separate compartments for different items. Ideally, all the gem-based pieces should be held securely inside the box, rather than being allowed to slide around and grate against each other. If you can’t find a nice jewelry box that has this feature, then always keep the original cases that your rings came in, and use these for storing your rings when you are not wearing them. A recipe for disaster is keeping all your gemstone rings in a single box, as they will all scratch each other; the diamonds may well get the better deal, but it is quite possible you could chip and scratch emeralds irreparably.

Make sure you seek advice about jewelry storage from the jeweler you buy yours from. And if you do cause accidental damage to any of your gemstone rings, it is always worth going to a reputable jeweler to see if they can regrind the stone to polish out the scratches. The best advice is to be really careful, and the cheapest way is to practise prevention rather than cure.