Recovering Lost Jewelry After Gas Line Explosion: What to Do

Question
The gas line to my house was hit by a foundation repair company. It exploded and burned to the ground.  Nothing was saved.  Months later before I allowed the excavation team to remove the rubbish I decided to just try and see what I could find.  I found a few pieces o gold and diamonds as well as a few silver coins.  I carried a tennis bracelet to a jeweler and was told that it could not be saved.  I came home and put some comet and dishwashing detergent on a nylon scrub pad and suprisingly removed alot of the burned dirt. I can even see gold but the diamonds are still black.  How can I clean them?  or can you reccomend a honest jewelry repair shop in the Houston  Tx. area.

Answer
Dear Lovie,

First, I am sorry for your loss.  I believe there is a chance of recovering some of the jewelry. If the items are not melted and stones broken, the damage is oxidation (discoloration from heat and exposure to gases in the fire) and residue of tars, vapors and other solids which were released into the air from the fire and then settled on and were almost baked onto the jewelry.

Your try with the cleanser and brush did show some hope.  However, please avoid using that cleaner and other bleach based cleaners.  Chlorine in the cleaners can damage the metal, more in white gold than yellow.

Removing discoloration from metal surfaces is best done by professional polishing, perhaps with lightly abrasive compounds followed with polishing compounds. A jeweler will use buffing wheels and rotary brushes for this part.  

Removal of baked on discoloration on the backs of stones is more difficult since some is in the places where the setting holds the gem, recesses not accessible to buffing.  Without removing the stones to clean it all, the better attempt is to use a strong cleaner.  The jewelry can be boiled in sudsy ammonia as found in the grocery store with a little dish detergent added. Be sure NOT TO EVER MIX AMMONIA AND CHLORINE CLEANERS!  The combination releases dangerous gases.
Boiling in the ammonia mix is best done outside to avoid the strong fumes of ammonia filling the house, something you surely do not want to do.  Try that first. Note: Do not clean silver with ammonia since this will spot and possibly discolor it.

If that does not work, get some oven cleaner, the kind with lye in it. Lye will burn the skin and the cleaner container will have warnings to be heeded.  Lye is very good at dissolving organic gunk but will not hurt most gem stones (diamonds are quite safe) and will not hurt the gold at all. Cover all with a generous coating of the lye based cleaner and let soak a good while. Warm it up in the oven if needed, just as when using the stuff to clean the oven.

The last resort for the stones if the above does not work is to have the stones removed and all cleaned then the stones reset. Depending on the sizes, shapes and setting method of the stones this may not be reasonable due to labor costs.


As for recommendation of a jeweler in your area, I do not have an answer.  You will need to get on the phone and call and ask if there is a bench jeweler working at the business. The bench jeweler is the one who actually does the jewelry work.  Then ask if they will clean fire stained jewelry, at least take a look at it and give you a chance.

I do wish you well.  I have cleaned lots of fire stained jewelry items.  Most works our quite well.

You may rate the answer if you wish. Feel free to use the follow-up to get back to me if you need to on this question.

God Bless and Peace.  Thomas.