how to clean Georgian paste rings?

Keep water away from them. The stones sit in closed settings over foil. Moisture seeps behind the metal and ruins the foil colour. Use a soft dry brush to remove dust instead.

My grandmother left me a pendant that has hair woven inside it under glass and I want to know why someone would wear that?

Hair was often kept as a personal memento. People wore it to remember living relatives who lived far away, not just those who had died. Jewellers offered catalogues of different weaving patterns. The hair was curled or laid flat beneath crystal or glass. It served as a sentimental token during an era when travel was slow.

can rings be resized safely?

It depends on the specific construction. Plain gold bands without enamel take well to standard resizing. Complicated shanks covered in chasing or intricate wirework lose their pattern if heated or stretched. Any heat applied near closed settings risks burning the foils behind the gems. A specialist needs to assess the heat tolerance of the piece before attempting alterations.

When reading descriptions of Georgian necklaces they keep mentioning something called pinchbeck and I do not understand what kind of metal it actually is?

Pinchbeck is an alloy of copper and zinc invented by Christopher Pinchbeck in the early eighteenth century. It mimics the colour and weight of gold well without tarnishing as quickly as ordinary brass. The formula remained a guarded family secret for decades. Travellers sometimes wore pinchbeck pieces on stagecoaches to protect their fine jewellery from highwaymen.

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Georgian Jewellery

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Georgian jewellery covers pieces produced between 1714 and 1837, usually crafted by hand to adorn the wealthy during candlelit evening events or daytime social calls.