quality and care

Quality and Care Guide

Our jewelry is designed for everyday wear and is crafted to last a lifetime with proper care.

CARE GUIDE

Care Guide

Your Cross + Crown jewelry is made to be worn, loved, and passed down. A little care will help preserve its finish, detail, and beauty for years to come.

For everyday cleaning, use lukewarm water, a small amount of mild dish soap, and a soft, lint-free cloth. Gently wipe the piece clean, rinse thoroughly, and dry completely before wearing or storing it. For detailed areas, a very soft toothbrush may be used with light pressure. Avoid harsh jewelry cleaners, bleach, chlorine, household chemicals, and abrasive polishing compounds.

We also recommend removing your jewelry before swimming, showering for extended periods, exercising, or doing work where the piece may be exposed to chemicals, heavy impact, or excessive pulling. Perfume, hairspray, lotions, sunscreen, and other personal-care products can build up on jewelry over time. Apply these products first and allow them to dry before putting on your jewelry.

14K Gold

14K gold is designed for lasting wear and does not tarnish like sterling silver. Over time, however, normal wear can create fine surface marks or reduce the original polish. Clean your 14K gold jewelry with mild soap, lukewarm water, and a soft cloth. Avoid chlorine and harsh chemicals, which can affect the alloys used in gold jewelry and may weaken soldered areas over time. Some Cross + Crown pieces are solid 14K gold while others may use hollow construction to create a larger, lighter piece at a more accessible price. Hollow jewelry should be handled with additional care because strong pressure or impact can dent or deform it.

14K Double Bonded Gold-Filled

Our 14K Double Bonded Gold-Filled jewelry is made with a substantial layer of genuine 14K gold mechanically bonded to a durable metal core. Gold-filled jewelry contains significantly more gold than conventional gold-plated jewelry and is designed for much longer-lasting wear. To keep it looking its best, clean it gently with mild soap, lukewarm water, and a soft cloth. Avoid abrasive cleaners, polishing compounds, harsh chemicals, chlorine, and prolonged soaking. Although gold-filled jewelry is made for everyday wear, the outer 14K gold surface can eventually show wear if it is repeatedly exposed to abrasion, chemicals, or aggressive polishing. Treat it as you would a fine piece of jewelry rather than costume jewelry.

Sterling Silver

Sterling silver naturally reacts with the environment and may develop tarnish over time. This is normal and does not mean the jewelry is damaged. Light tarnish can usually be removed with a soft silver polishing cloth. For deeper cleaning, use mild soap and lukewarm water, then dry the piece completely. Avoid aggressive polishing on pieces with intentional satin, antiqued, recessed, or contrasting finishes, as excessive polishing can alter the appearance of those details.

Chains

Chains should be stored flat or gently coiled to help prevent knots and kinks. Avoid pulling or tugging on the chain, and take care when sleeping, exercising, changing clothes, or handling small children, as sudden tension can stretch or break even a well-made fine jewelry chain. When putting on or removing a necklace, handle it by the clasp rather than pulling on the chain or pendant.

Storage

Store jewelry in a clean, dry place when it is not being worn. Keeping individual pieces separated helps prevent scratching and tangling. A soft jewelry pouch, lined jewelry box, or original Cross + Crown packaging is ideal. For sterling silver, storing the piece in a closed pouch or container when not in use can also help slow natural tarnishing.

Professional Cleaning
and Repair

We recommend avoiding ultrasonic cleaners, chemical dips, or other aggressive cleaning methods unless you know they are appropriate for the specific piece. Certain finishes, construction methods, stones, and decorative details may require specialized care. If your Cross + Crown jewelry ever needs professional cleaning, inspection, repair, or you are unsure how to care for a particular piece, contact us. We are always happy to help you determine the safest way to care for your jewelry.

QUALITY GUIDE

Quality Guide

The materials we choose, the way each design is made, and the belief that meaningful jewelry should be made well enough to become part of a family’s story.

At Cross + Crown, quality begins long before a piece of jewelry reaches its final polish. It begins with the materials we choose, the way each design is made, and the belief that meaningful jewelry should be made well enough to become part of a family’s story. Our jewelry is created with a focus on craftsmanship, authenticity, and lasting value.

Whether a cross is given for a First Communion, a medal is worn as a daily expression of faith, or a piece becomes something that is eventually passed from one generation to the next, we believe the quality of the jewelry should reflect the significance behind it.

Made in the USA

Cross + Crown jewelry is made in the United States by skilled craftspeople with generations of jewelry-manufacturing experience. Unlike brands that simply source finished jewelry and add their name to it, our connection to manufacturing gives us direct involvement in how our jewelry is made, finished, inspected, and improved. From traditional religious designs to new interpretations of crosses, crucifixes, and medals, our goal is to preserve the detail and character of fine religious jewelry while making pieces that can be worn every day.

Die-Struck Craftsmanship

Many of our religious pieces are produced using traditional die-striking techniques. Instead of simply casting molten metal into a mold, die striking uses tremendous pressure to form metal between hardened steel dies. This process can create exceptionally crisp details, defined edges, and a dense, refined surface. It is a manufacturing method that has been used for generations in fine medals, coins, and jewelry, and it is particularly well suited to the detailed imagery found in religious jewelry. After striking, pieces may go through multiple additional steps including trimming, soldering, brushing, polishing, finishing, assembly, stone setting, and inspection depending on the design.

14K Gold

Our 14K gold jewelry is made with genuine 14-karat gold. 14K gold provides an excellent balance of beauty, durability, and precious-metal content for jewelry intended to be worn regularly. It has the warmth and lasting value of real gold while being more durable than higher-karat gold for many everyday applications. Depending on the design, a piece may be made using solid or hollow 14K construction. Solid pieces provide greater weight and substance, while carefully made hollow pieces allow us to offer larger designs with a lighter feel and a lower precious-metal cost. When construction varies by product, the specific product page should identify the material and design.

14K Double Bonded
Gold-Filled

Our 14K Double Bonded Gold-Filled jewelry is made for customers who want the appearance and feel of genuine gold with a more accessible price. Gold-filled is fundamentally different from conventional gold plating. Our 1/20 14K gold-filled material contains 14K gold equal to 5% of the total material weight. Layers of genuine 14K gold are mechanically bonded to a durable core before the jewelry is formed. Because the gold is bonded as part of the material rather than applied only as an extremely thin decorative surface, gold-filled jewelry contains substantially more gold than typical gold-plated jewelry and is designed to provide significantly greater durability. It is an important part of our collection because it allows us to create meaningful, well-made religious jewelry at a price point between sterling silver and solid 14K gold without treating the piece as disposable fashion jewelry.

Sterling Silver

Our sterling silver jewelry is made from genuine .925 sterling silver. Sterling silver consists of 92.5% pure silver combined with other metals to provide the strength necessary for jewelry. It offers the beauty and intrinsic value of a precious metal while remaining accessible enough for everyday religious jewelry and gifting. Sterling silver can naturally tarnish over time when exposed to air, moisture, and other environmental factors. This is a normal characteristic of genuine silver and can generally be restored with proper cleaning and polishing.

Finishing Matters

The final appearance of a piece often requires several finishing operations. Polished surfaces, brushed areas, recessed details, contrasting textures, soldered components, and carefully finished edges all contribute to how the jewelry looks and feels when worn. These steps are also where experienced craftsmanship matters. A beautifully struck design can lose its character if it is over-polished or poorly finished. Our goal is to preserve the detail of the original design while creating a clean, refined finished piece.

Quality You Can Feel

We believe quality should be visible, but it should also be something you can feel when you hold the jewelry. The definition of a medal. The clean edge of a cross. The polish of the surface. The movement of the chain. The proportions of the piece. The way the pendant sits when worn. These details may seem small individually, but together they determine whether a piece feels ordinary or special.

Built for Meaningful Moments

Religious jewelry often marks some of the most important moments in a person’s life. Baptisms. First Communions. Confirmations. Graduations. Weddings. Birthdays. Christmas. Mother's Day and Father's Day. And sometimes there is no occasion at all—only a desire to carry a symbol of faith close every day. We take that responsibility seriously. Our goal is not simply to make jewelry that looks good when it arrives. We want to make jewelry worthy of what it represents.

Quality & Care Guide

Every Cross + Crown piece is expected to meet our standards for materials, construction, finishing, and workmanship before it reaches you. If there is ever a problem with the workmanship of your jewelry, our two-year warranty provides repair or replacement coverage in accordance with our warranty terms. Jewelry will naturally show signs of wear over time, and no fine jewelry is indestructible. But when cared for properly, Cross + Crown jewelry is designed to be worn, treasured, and associated with the moments and beliefs that matter most. That is what quality means to us.

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