cleaning colored stones

[nyquestioner]

Can someone point me to a good thread about how to clean jewelry with different kinds of colored stones?

Specifically right now I have two questions.

1) I have an opal in silver filigree. Am I correct in assuming that it would be a bad idea to dunk an opal in silver polish? How do you guys deal with soft colored stones in silver jewelry?

2) I have a spinel set in a halo. For my diamond ring I use a toothbrush, warm water, a little dish soap and windex. I know spinel is fairly hard but not as hard as diamond so I'm thinking this is not the right approach here, but actually I have no idea. How do you clean spinel rings?

 

[NKOTB]

I clean all my rings, diamond and CS, with a soft toothbrush and dish soap in warm water. I don't know about silver polish and gemstones.

 

[Bron357]

Argh, don't dunk your Opal in anything !!!! Especially not silver polish or an ultrasonic cleaner. Opals are porous and are to be kept away from oils, perfume and the like. Opals don't need cleaning as such, a wipe over with a damp (water) cloth is fine. What you need is a silver polishing cloth. It's a cotton material impregnated with dry silver cleaning material. It's abrasive so don't "rub" the Opal itself, just the metal ring parts.
Any other type of coloured gems, except pearls, can be cleaned with a mild soap and water solution and a soft toothbrush. You can buy gem cleaning liquids too, but again, not for pearls or opals.
Also, opals are soft on Mohos scale 6.5 which is less than Quartz so most materials ie kitchen bench tops, tiles etc can scratch the surface. Opals are better as "ocassional" dress rings, not everyday wear.